F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday. The network technology company reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.45 by $0.22, Briefing.com reports. F5 had a net margin of 19.94% and a return on equity of 21.03%. The company had revenue of $747.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $730.43 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.76 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

F5 Stock Down 0.6 %

FFIV traded down $1.38 on Wednesday, reaching $238.95. The company had a trading volume of 1,109,853 shares, compared to its average volume of 534,441. F5 has a 1 year low of $149.40 and a 1 year high of $250.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.01 billion, a PE ratio of 28.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $213.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $189.31.

Insider Activity at F5

In related news, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total value of $201,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,159,066.55. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other F5 news, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total value of $201,650.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,159,066.55. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.71, for a total transaction of $163,996.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,083,360. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 6,551 shares of company stock valued at $1,334,698 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. 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 report on Tuesday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $233.56.

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

About F5

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.