F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.03 EPS

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday. The network technology company reported $2.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.03, RTT News reports. F5 had a return on equity of 20.81% and a net margin of 16.43%. The business had revenue of $681.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $685.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.70 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis.

F5 Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FFIV traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $182.13. 1,030,164 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 443,347. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $187.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.72. F5 has a twelve month low of $129.93 and a twelve month high of $199.49. The company has a market cap of $10.71 billion, a PE ratio of 23.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.11.

Insider Transactions at F5

In related news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.06, for a total value of $155,784.06. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,747,364.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.06, for a total value of $155,784.06. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,747,364.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.31, for a total transaction of $91,155.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,290 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,886,789.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 10,201 shares of company stock worth $1,908,065. Insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on FFIV shares. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of F5 from $170.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of F5 in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $204.00 price objective on shares of F5 in a report on Friday, February 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of F5 from $156.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on F5 from $197.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, F5 presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $192.22.

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.