F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Reaches New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $224.40 and last traded at $223.91, with a volume of 46136 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $221.99.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $185.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on F5 from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on F5 from $167.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on F5 from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on F5 from $189.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, F5 presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $204.56.

F5 Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average of $206.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $186.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The network technology company reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.39. F5 had a return on equity of 21.03% and a net margin of 19.94%. The company had revenue of $695.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $686.06 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.46 earnings per share. F5’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that F5, Inc. will post 10.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In other news, EVP Scot Frazier Rogers sold 1,420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.76, for a total transaction of $283,659.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 18,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,610,262.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP Scot Frazier Rogers sold 1,420 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.76, for a total value of $283,659.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 18,073 shares in the company, valued at $3,610,262.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.35, for a total value of $273,107.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 124,022 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,359,543.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 7,871 shares of company stock valued at $1,575,855. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning increased its stake in F5 by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 4,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $956,000 after buying an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of F5 in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new stake in shares of F5 during the third quarter valued at approximately $61,386,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in F5 by 2,788.1% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,213 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $267,000 after acquiring an additional 1,171 shares during the period. Finally, Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in F5 during the third quarter worth $409,000. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.