Evercore ISI Trims F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Target Price to $180.00

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) had its price objective reduced by equities research analysts at Evercore ISI from $200.00 to $180.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “in-line” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price target points to a potential upside of 8.69% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on FFIV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of F5 from $197.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of F5 in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on F5 from $156.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $167.00 target price (down from $187.00) on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on F5 from $206.00 to $189.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, F5 currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $187.30.

F5 Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV traded down $16.52 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $165.61. The company had a trading volume of 501,589 shares, compared to its average volume of 443,562. F5 has a twelve month low of $129.93 and a twelve month high of $199.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.74 billion, a PE ratio of 21.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $187.66 and its 200 day moving average is $176.72.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The network technology company reported $2.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $681.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.47 million. F5 had a return on equity of 20.81% and a net margin of 16.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.70 EPS. Equities analysts predict that F5 will post 9.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.81, for a total transaction of $89,405.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,594,964.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.81, for a total transaction of $89,405.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,594,964.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.85, for a total value of $273,832.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,002,118.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,201 shares of company stock worth $1,908,065 in the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of FFIV. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in shares of F5 by 776.6% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 36,424 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,906,000 after acquiring an additional 32,269 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of F5 by 3.1% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 89,991 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $17,061,000 after buying an additional 2,666 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of F5 by 3.8% in the first quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 56,046 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $10,626,000 after buying an additional 2,036 shares during the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of F5 during the 1st quarter worth $208,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in F5 by 49.9% in the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 23,441 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,444,000 after acquiring an additional 7,805 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is currently 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.