F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Price Target Raised to $304.00

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) had its price target upped by Piper Sandler from $246.00 to $304.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on FFIV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. StockNews.com raised shares of F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, F5 has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $295.00.

F5 Price Performance

Shares of FFIV stock opened at $297.26 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $260.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $227.89. F5 has a one year low of $159.01 and a one year high of $308.00. The firm has a market cap of $17.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.55, a P/E/G ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network technology company to reacquire up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was 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 $2,369,407.14. This represents a 7.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.45, for a total value of $221,639.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $538,876.50. This trade represents a 29.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in F5 during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in F5 in the third quarter worth $32,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in shares of F5 during the fourth quarter worth $50,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of F5 by 783.3% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 318 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 282 shares during the period. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of F5 by 79.8% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 320 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently 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.