F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Research

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on FFIV. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of F5 from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $461.00 price target (up from $423.00) on shares of F5 in a research note on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of F5 in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of F5 from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $408.67.

F5 Stock Performance

Shares of F5 stock opened at $403.46 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $401.20 and a 200-day moving average of $331.76. The stock has a market cap of $22.76 billion, a PE ratio of 32.12, a PEG ratio of 4.78 and a beta of 1.03. F5 has a 52-week low of $223.76 and a 52-week high of $435.00.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The network technology company reported $4.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.00 by $0.73. F5 had a net margin of 21.95% and a return on equity of 21.94%. The business had revenue of $865.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $834.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.16 earnings per share. F5’s revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. F5 has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 4.140-4.260 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.210-17.330 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that F5 will post 12.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In other news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 1,328 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.58, for a total transaction of $439,010.24. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 8,060 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,474.80. The trade was a 14.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 3,783 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.39, for a total value of $1,276,346.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 146,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,592,618.71. This represents a 2.51% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 22,579 shares of company stock worth $7,836,860 over the last three months. 0.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of F5 by 2.6% in the first quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,447 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in F5 by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,190 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Pacific Sage Partners LLC lifted its holdings in F5 by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Pacific Sage Partners LLC now owns 7,122 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,818,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its position in shares of F5 by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 968 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $247,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of F5 by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,047 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $338,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about F5

Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong Q3 results: F5 reported adjusted EPS of $4.73, above the $4.00 consensus, while revenue rose 10.9% year over year to $865.1 million, exceeding expectations of $834.6 million. Product revenue increased 19%, marking the eighth consecutive quarter of double-digit product growth. F5 Reports Third Quarter Results with 19% Product Revenue Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Higher guidance: Management raised its fiscal 2026 outlook, forecasting EPS of $17.21–$17.33 and revenue of approximately $3.4 billion. Fourth-quarter guidance of $4.14–$4.26 EPS and $870–$890 million in revenue also exceeds consensus estimates. The company cited strong cybersecurity demand, hybrid multicloud adoption and application-security growth. F5 raises annual revenue growth forecast
• Positive Sentiment: AI expansion: F5 plans to acquire CalypsoAI to add advanced AI guardrails for large enterprises, potentially strengthening its position in securing AI applications and APIs. F5 to Acquire CalypsoAI
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst reactions are mixed: JPMorgan raised its target to $515 and kept an overweight rating, while Morgan Stanley lifted its target to $415 but maintained equal weight. Barclays raised its target to $397 and also kept equal weight. The reported average target of $382.67 remains below the current share price.
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and margins temper enthusiasm: With F5 trading near its 52-week high and at roughly 32 times earnings, investors may be taking profits. Coverage has also highlighted a cautious margin outlook, making the shares sensitive to any evidence that elevated AI and product investment could limit earnings expansion. F5 Lifts 2026 Outlook As Valuation Questions Come Into Focus

About F5

F5 Inc (NASDAQ:FFIV) specializes in application services and delivery networking, helping organizations ensure the availability, performance and security of their applications. The company’s core offerings include advanced load balancing, traffic management and application security solutions designed to optimize user experiences and protect against threats such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and web application exploits.

At the heart of F5’s product portfolio is the BIG-IP platform, which provides a suite of software modules for local and global traffic management, secure web application firewalling and DNS service delivery.