Barclays Lowers F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Price Target to $189.00

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) had its target price decreased by Barclays from $206.00 to $189.00 in a research note published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the network technology company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on FFIV. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of F5 in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler reiterated a neutral rating and set a $167.00 price target (down previously from $187.00) on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a sector perform rating and set a $204.00 price target on shares of F5 in a report on Friday, February 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on F5 from $156.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on F5 from $186.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, F5 has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $185.10.

F5 Stock Performance

Shares of FFIV opened at $165.94 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $9.76 billion, a PE ratio of 19.87, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $186.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $176.67. F5 has a twelve month low of $130.34 and a twelve month high of $199.49.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The network technology company reported $2.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $681.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.47 million. F5 had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.70 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that F5 will post 9.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at F5

In other news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.31, for a total transaction of $91,155.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 32,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,886,789.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.06, for a total value of $155,784.06. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,747,364.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.31, for a total value of $91,155.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 32,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,886,789.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,052 shares of company stock worth $2,050,633 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FFIV. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in F5 by 203.5% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 484,516 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $78,052,000 after acquiring an additional 324,886 shares during the period. Lyrical Asset Management LP raised its stake in F5 by 38.3% in the 4th quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 1,145,302 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $204,986,000 after acquiring an additional 317,263 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in F5 in the 4th quarter valued at $45,937,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in F5 by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,812,095 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $292,001,000 after acquiring an additional 212,784 shares during the period. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its stake in F5 by 3,545.5% in the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 172,977 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,874,000 after acquiring an additional 168,232 shares during the period. 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.