F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Sets New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• F5 shares reached a new 52-week high after RBC raised its price target from $508 to $525 and maintained an outperform rating. The stock traded near $481, although its consensus rating remains “Hold” with an average target of $426.
• Recent quarterly results exceeded expectations: F5 reported $4.73 in EPS versus the $4.00 consensus and revenue of $865.1 million, up 10.9% year over year.
• Insiders sold 16,829 shares worth approximately $6.8 million over the past quarter, while institutional investors and hedge funds continue to own a substantial 90.66% of outstanding shares.

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report)'s share price reached a new 52-week high on Monday after Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $508.00 to $525.00. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. F5 traded as high as $484.49 and last traded at $480.9850, with a volume of 992 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $479.83.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on FFIV. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of F5 from $386.00 to $397.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of F5 from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Friday. Wall Street Zen upgraded F5 from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of F5 from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, F5 has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $426.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Maddison sold 204 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.24, for a total transaction of $82,872.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,149 shares of the company's stock, valued at $466,769.76. This represents a 15.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thomas Fountain sold 1,208 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.63, for a total value of $500,873.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 8,060 shares in the company, valued at $3,341,917.80. The trade was a 13.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 16,829 shares of company stock worth $6,815,302 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.48% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FFIV. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its holdings in F5 by 963.6% in the 1st quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 117 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its stake in shares of F5 by 113.8% in the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 124 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd bought a new stake in shares of F5 in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in F5 during the 2nd quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in F5 by 373.1% during the 2nd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 123 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

F5 Stock Down 0.6%

The stock's 50-day moving average price is $418.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $384.11. The company has a market capitalization of $27.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 1.03.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The network technology company reported $4.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.00 by $0.73. F5 had a net margin of 21.95% and a return on equity of 21.54%. The business had revenue of $865.08 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $834.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.16 earnings per share. F5's revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. F5 has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 4.140-4.260 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.210-17.330 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that F5, Inc. will post 13.65 EPS for the current year.

F5 Company Profile

F5, Inc develops application delivery, security and management technologies that help organizations deploy, protect and optimize applications across data centers, public clouds, edge environments and distributed networks. Its offerings are designed to support application availability, performance, scalability and security across hybrid and multi-cloud architectures.

The company's portfolio includes BIG-IP application delivery and security solutions, NGINX web and application delivery technologies, and F5 Distributed Cloud services.

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