F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Reaches New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $250.46 and last traded at $249.24, with a volume of 111775 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $246.98.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on FFIV. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on F5 from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays increased their price objective on F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $233.56.

F5 Trading Up 0.7 %

The firm has a market cap of $14.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $226.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $197.09.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.45 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $747.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.43 million. F5 had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 20.13%. F5’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.76 EPS. On average, analysts predict that F5, Inc. will post 11.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

F5 announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, October 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network technology company to reacquire up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $218.26, for a total transaction of $316,477.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,436,087.72. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total value of $201,650.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,159,066.55. This trade represents a 8.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 4,475 shares of company stock valued at $977,039. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of F5 by 6,700.2% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 848,388 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $146,118,000 after purchasing an additional 835,912 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new position in shares of F5 during the third quarter worth about $61,386,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of F5 by 1,681.1% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 285,639 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $62,898,000 after buying an additional 269,602 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in F5 by 48.9% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 652,972 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $111,932,000 after acquiring an additional 214,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its position in F5 by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 5,489,388 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,208,763,000 after acquiring an additional 191,020 shares during the last quarter. 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.