F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $313.00 and last traded at $307.59, with a volume of 611066 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $310.18.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $295.00.

F5 Trading Down 0.8 %

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $273.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $239.01. The stock has a market cap of $17.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program 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 repurchase up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at F5

In related news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.06, for a total value of $1,969,890.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,836,915.82. The trade was a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, 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 shares were sold at an average price of $304.45, for a total transaction of $221,639.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,770 shares in the company, valued at $538,876.50. This represents a 29.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,574 shares of company stock valued at $3,455,057 over the last three months. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in F5 by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 954 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $240,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC lifted its position in F5 by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 685 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $172,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in F5 by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 852 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $214,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank lifted its position in F5 by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 7,869 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,987,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in F5 by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,607 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $404,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.