F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Given New $182.00 Price Target at Royal Bank of Canada

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) had its price target decreased by equities research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $204.00 to $182.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "sector perform" rating on the network technology company's stock. Royal Bank of Canada's price target would suggest a potential upside of 10.10% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on FFIV. Barclays cut their price target on F5 from $206.00 to $189.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of F5 from $197.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective 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, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $167.00 target price (down from $187.00) on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $185.10.

F5 Price Performance

FFIV stock traded down $16.82 on Tuesday, reaching $165.31. 2,061,313 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 463,137. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $187.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.72. The company has a market cap of $9.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.11. F5 has a one year low of $129.93 and a one year high of $199.49.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The network technology company reported $2.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.03. F5 had a return on equity of 20.81% and a net margin of 16.43%. The firm had revenue of $681.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.70 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that F5 will post 9.59 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other F5 news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.02, for a total value of $1,203,328.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 123,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,173,653.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.02, for a total transaction of $1,203,328.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 123,251 shares in the company, valued at $23,173,653.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.06, for a total value of $155,784.06. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,008 shares in the company, valued at $2,747,364.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,201 shares of company stock worth $1,908,065 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FFIV. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in F5 during the first quarter valued at $317,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in F5 by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,362 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,965,000 after purchasing an additional 642 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in F5 by 776.6% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 36,424 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $6,906,000 after purchasing an additional 32,269 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in F5 by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 89,991 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $17,061,000 after purchasing an additional 2,666 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in F5 by 3.8% in the first quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 56,046 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $10,626,000 after purchasing an additional 2,036 shares during the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.