F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Downgraded to "Hold" Rating by Zacks Research

Key Points

• F5 was downgraded from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating by Zacks Research, reflecting a more cautious outlook on the stock.
• Despite the downgrade, several analysts have increased their price targets for F5, with Morgan Stanley setting a new target of $352 and Needham & Company at $345.
• F5 recently reported earnings of $4.16 per share, exceeding expectations and marking a 12.2% increase in revenue compared to the previous year.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on F5 from $312.00 to $352.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on F5 from $304.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on F5 from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on F5 from $314.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on F5 from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, F5 presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $314.33.

F5 Stock Up 0.7%

NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $343.17 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $19.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 1.06. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $323.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $296.60. F5 has a twelve month low of $213.24 and a twelve month high of $346.00.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The network technology company reported $4.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.67. The company had revenue of $780.37 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $750.64 million. F5 had a net margin of 22.06% and a return on equity of 21.77%. F5's revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.36 EPS. F5 has set its FY 2025 guidance at 15.240-15.380 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 3.870-3.990 EPS. On average, analysts expect that F5 will post 11.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at F5

In related news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.61, for a total transaction of $416,793.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 107,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,482,567.33. This represents a 1.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Lyra Amber Schramm sold 2,701 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.57, for a total value of $855,055.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,945 shares of company stock valued at $3,796,542 over the last quarter. 0.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of F5

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FFIV. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its stake in F5 by 275.0% in the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 90 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in F5 by 134.1% in the first quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 103 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in F5 by 275.0% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 105 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. Groupe la Francaise purchased a new position in shares of F5 during the first quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Flaharty Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of F5 during the first quarter valued at $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.66% of the company's stock.

About F5

F5, Inc provides multi-cloud application security and delivery solutions in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific region. The company's distributed cloud services enable its customers to deploy, secure, and operate applications in any architecture, from on-premises to the public cloud.

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