Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Stock Price

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) had its target price increased by Morgan Stanley from $280.00 to $305.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the network technology company's stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of F5 from $296.00 to $274.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on F5 from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wolfe Research started coverage on F5 in a research note on Monday, July 7th. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $290.00 price objective on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of F5 in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $291.44.

F5 Stock Up 0.6%

FFIV traded up $1.83 during trading on Friday, hitting $302.17. The company's stock had a trading volume of 597,884 shares, compared to its average volume of 565,103. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $290.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $279.22. The firm has a market cap of $17.35 billion, a PE ratio of 28.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.00. F5 has a one year low of $170.21 and a one year high of $313.00.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The network technology company reported $3.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $590.16 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $719.91 million. F5 had a return on equity of 21.18% and a net margin of 21.14%. F5's quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.91 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that F5 will post 11.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at F5

In other F5 news, Director Michael L. Dreyer sold 1,800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.96, for a total value of $514,728.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,376 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,251,360.96. This trade represents a 29.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,272 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.69, for a total value of $364,669.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 9,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,843,678.11. The trade was a 11.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,519 shares of company stock valued at $2,408,594 over the last ninety days. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp acquired a new position in shares of F5 in the 2nd quarter valued at $7,762,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in F5 by 40.8% in the second quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 789,283 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $232,302,000 after buying an additional 228,790 shares during the last quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in F5 by 36.7% during the 2nd quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,299 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $382,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the period. Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of F5 during the second quarter worth $209,000. Finally, Addenda Capital Inc. lifted its position in F5 by 2.0% during the second quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 54,161 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $15,941,000 after purchasing an additional 1,063 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.