F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $290.00 price objective on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $269.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of F5 from $296.00 to $285.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of F5 from $296.00 to $274.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, F5 has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $282.56.

F5 Stock Performance

FFIV stock traded up $4.49 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $286.59. 306,716 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 569,929. The firm has a market cap of $16.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.00. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $267.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $268.46. F5 has a 1-year low of $164.45 and a 1-year high of $313.00.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The network technology company reported $3.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.31. F5 had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The firm had revenue of $590.16 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $719.91 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.91 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that F5 will post 11.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at F5

In other F5 news, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,272 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.69, for a total transaction of $364,669.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,919 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,843,678.11. The trade was a 11.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Scot Frazier Rogers sold 3,486 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.18, for a total transaction of $1,022,025.48. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,075 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,885,588.50. This trade represents a 14.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 10,577 shares of company stock valued at $2,926,029. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in F5 by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 954 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $240,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Colonial Trust Co SC boosted its position in F5 by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 685 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $172,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of F5 by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 852 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $214,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank boosted its position in shares of F5 by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 7,869 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,987,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of F5 by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,607 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $404,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

F5 Company Profile

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.