Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Stock Price

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) had its price target lifted by investment analysts at Barclays from $246.00 to $296.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 9.74% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on FFIV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $279.13.

F5 Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $269.72 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $256.94 and its 200-day moving average is $226.03. The company has a market cap of $15.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.21, a PEG ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 1.06. F5 has a 52-week low of $159.01 and a 52-week high of $274.64.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.45 by $0.22. F5 had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 20.13%. The firm had revenue of $747.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.43 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.76 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that F5 will post 11.01 EPS for the current year.

F5 announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, October 28th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network technology company to purchase up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other F5 news, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total transaction of $197,810.25. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,369,407.14. This represents a 7.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Chase Investment Counsel Corp bought a new stake in F5 during the 3rd quarter worth about $4,726,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of F5 by 24.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 409,130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $90,090,000 after buying an additional 81,005 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its holdings in F5 by 14.3% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 70,536 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $15,532,000 after purchasing an additional 8,800 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in F5 by 36.3% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,144 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $539,000 after buying an additional 571 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addenda Capital Inc. grew its position in shares of F5 by 43.5% during the 4th quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 50,314 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,652,000 after buying an additional 15,240 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.