F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Sets New 12-Month High Following Strong Earnings

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock traded as high as $199.80 and last traded at $197.00, with a volume of 413429 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $177.59.

The network technology company reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $695.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $686.06 million. F5 had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.46 earnings per share.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of F5 from $167.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of F5 from $182.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of F5 from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of F5 from $189.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of F5 from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given 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, F5 presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $197.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other F5 news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $85,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,373,360. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.11, for a total transaction of $243,759.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,362 shares in the company, valued at $20,906,495.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $85,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 31,608 shares in the company, valued at $5,373,360. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,766 shares of company stock valued at $1,990,890. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Commerce Bank lifted its position in shares of F5 by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 1,912 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $342,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in F5 by 0.6% in the first quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 11,531 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,186,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in F5 by 0.3% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 28,231 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,862,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in F5 by 3.6% in the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 2,155 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $409,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in F5 by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 357 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

F5 Stock Up 10.9 %

The company’s fifty day moving average is $171.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $179.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.08.

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.