F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Sets New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $313.00 and last traded at $307.59, with a volume of 611066 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $310.18.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FFIV has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on F5 from $246.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America increased their price target on F5 from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on F5 from $246.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, F5 currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $295.00.

F5 Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $274.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $239.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, October 28th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network technology company to buy up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In related news, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.45, for a total transaction of $221,639.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $538,876.50. The trade was a 29.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.06, for a total value of $1,969,890.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,836,915.82. The trade was a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,574 shares of company stock worth $3,455,057 over the last quarter. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of F5 by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 4,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $956,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of F5 during the 3rd quarter worth about $211,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of F5 by 156.0% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 617 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $136,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of F5 by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 13,738 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,025,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of F5 by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,824 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $402,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is 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.