F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Price Target Raised to $295.00 at The Goldman Sachs Group

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) had its target price increased by The Goldman Sachs Group from $257.00 to $295.00 in a report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, F5 currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.38.

F5 Price Performance

NASDAQ FFIV opened at $300.46 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $258.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $226.55. The company has a market capitalization of $17.61 billion, a PE ratio of 31.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 1.06. F5 has a 1 year low of $159.01 and a 1 year high of $308.00.

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

F5 announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, October 28th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network technology company to reacquire up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total transaction of $197,810.25. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,369,407.14. The trade was a 7.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in F5 by 65.6% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 2,219 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $382,000 after purchasing an additional 879 shares in the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new stake in F5 in the second quarter valued at $592,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in F5 by 1.4% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 45,848 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,896,000 after purchasing an additional 621 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of F5 by 4.1% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 3,994 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $688,000 after buying an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of F5 during the 2nd quarter worth $66,000. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About F5

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.