F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Hits New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $308.32 and last traded at $307.44, with a volume of 617656 shares. The stock had previously closed at $303.32.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FFIV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, F5 presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $295.00.

F5 Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $265.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $232.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network technology company to reacquire up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In other news, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total value of $197,810.25. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,369,407.14. The trade was a 7.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 in the company, valued at $538,876.50. This trade represents a 29.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,899 shares of company stock valued at $1,682,977 over the last 90 days. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in F5 by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 15,157 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,811,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in F5 by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 966 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $243,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in F5 by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 7,679 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,931,000 after acquiring an additional 531 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC increased its position in F5 by 185,150.0% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 3,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $932,000 after acquiring an additional 3,703 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its position in F5 by 79.5% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 236,126 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $61,119,000 after acquiring an additional 104,569 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.