F5, Inc. provides multi-cloud application security and delivery solutions for the security, performance, and availability of network applications, servers, and storage systems. The company's multi-cloud application security and delivery solutions enable its customers to develop, deploy, operate, secure, and govern applications in any architecture, from on-premises to the public cloud. It offers application security and delivery products, including BIG-IP appliances and VIPRION chassis and related software modules and software-only Virtual Editions; Local Traffic Manager and DNS Services; Advanced Firewall Manager and Policy Enforcement Manager that leverage the unique performance characteristics of its hardware and software architecture; Application Security Manager and Access Policy Manager; NGINX Plus and NGINX Controller; Shape Defense and Enterprise Defense; Secure Web Gateway, and Silverline DDoS and Application security offerings; and online fraud and abuse prevention solutions. The company also provides a range of professional services, including consulting, training, installation, maintenance, and other technical support services. F5, Inc. sells its products to large enterprise businesses, public sector institutions, governments, and service providers through distributors, value-added resellers, managed service providers, and systems integrators in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific region. It has partnerships with public cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. The company was formerly known as F5 Networks, Inc. and changed its name to F5, Inc. in November 2021. F5, Inc. was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several research analysts recently commented on FFIV shares. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of F5 from $255.00 to $220.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 27th. Bank of America cut F5 from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $215.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 20th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on F5 from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 27th. StockNews.com cut F5 from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 6th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group raised their price objective on shares of F5 from $167.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 26th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $211.38.
F5 Price Performance
Shares of FFIV traded up $0.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $172.38. The company had a trading volume of 425,640 shares, compared to its average volume of 764,134. The company has a market capitalization of $10.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.78, a P/E/G ratio of 5.47 and a beta of 1.15. F5 has a twelve month low of $142.43 and a twelve month high of $249.00. The company's 50-day moving average is $157.64 and its 200-day moving average is $181.80.
F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 25th. The network technology company reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.23 by $0.34. F5 had a return on equity of 19.06% and a net margin of 12.83%. The firm had revenue of $674.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $667.81 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.98 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that F5 will post 6.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Insider Activity at F5
In other F5 news, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 254 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.68, for a total transaction of $42,844.72. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,463,636.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other F5 news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $85,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,312 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,113,040. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 254 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.68, for a total transaction of $42,844.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,463,636.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 6,705 shares of company stock valued at $1,112,127 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.
