F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) shares reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $312.76 and last traded at $310.27, with a volume of 50276 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $310.60.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FFIV has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their target price on F5 from $246.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, F5 presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $295.00.

F5 Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $17.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $268.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $235.46.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.45, for a total value of $221,639.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $538,876.50. This represents a 29.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Lyra Amber Schramm sold 253 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.26, for a total value of $75,206.78. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 200 shares in the company, valued at $59,452. The trade was a 55.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,899 shares of company stock worth $1,682,977 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FFIV. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of F5 during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of F5 during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of F5 in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of F5 in the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of F5 by 31.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 203 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 49 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.