F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $308.32 and last traded at $307.44, with a volume of 617656 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $303.32.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on FFIV. Barclays raised their target price on F5 from $246.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $295.00.

F5 Trading Up 1.4 %

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $263.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $230.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.56, a PEG ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, October 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network technology company to repurchase up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In other news, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.45, for a total transaction of $221,639.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,770 shares in the company, valued at $538,876.50. This represents a 29.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Lyra Amber Schramm sold 253 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.26, for a total transaction of $75,206.78. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,452. This represents a 55.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,899 shares of company stock worth $1,682,977. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of F5 during the 4th quarter worth approximately $16,623,000. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in shares of F5 by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,913 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,253,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in F5 during the fourth quarter worth $18,845,000. M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in F5 by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 3,408 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $857,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in F5 by 9,740.0% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 984 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 974 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

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.