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

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded F5 to “Buy” from “Hold.” However, broader analyst sentiment remains “Hold,” with five Buy, five Hold and one Sell rating, and a consensus price target of $416.62.
• F5 shares opened at $402.57, trading between a 12-month low of $223.76 and high of $435.00. The company has a market capitalization of approximately $22.71 billion.
• F5 exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $4.73 in EPS versus a $4.00 consensus estimate and revenue of $865.08 million versus $834.60 million expected; revenue increased 10.9% year over year.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Barclays upped their target price on F5 from $386.00 to $397.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on F5 from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore upgraded shares of F5 from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $475.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, F5 presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $416.62.

F5 Price Performance

FFIV stock opened at $402.57 on Friday. F5 has a 12 month low of $223.76 and a 12 month high of $435.00. The firm's 50-day moving average is $401.57 and its 200 day moving average is $333.91. The company has a market capitalization of $22.71 billion, a PE ratio of 32.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 1.03.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The network technology company reported $4.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.00 by $0.73. F5 had a return on equity of 21.54% and a net margin of 21.95%.The company had revenue of $865.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $834.60 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.16 EPS. F5's quarterly revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. F5 has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 4.140-4.260 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.210-17.330 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that F5 will post 13.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In related news, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 6,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.19, for a total value of $2,171,178.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 20,832 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,295,158.08. This trade represents a 22.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 3,783 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.39, for a total value of $1,276,346.37. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 146,989 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $49,592,618.71. This trade represents a 2.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 22,579 shares of company stock valued at $7,836,860. Insiders own 0.48% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of F5

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. acquired a new stake in F5 during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of F5 by 109.8% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of F5 in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its position in shares of F5 by 963.6% in the first quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 117 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in shares of F5 by 113.8% in the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 124 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

F5 Company Profile

F5 Inc NASDAQ: FFIV specializes in application services and delivery networking, helping organizations ensure the availability, performance and security of their applications. The company's core offerings include advanced load balancing, traffic management and application security solutions designed to optimize user experiences and protect against threats such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and web application exploits.

At the heart of F5's product portfolio is the BIG-IP platform, which provides a suite of software modules for local and global traffic management, secure web application firewalling and DNS service delivery.

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