Barclays Issues Pessimistic Forecast for F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Stock Price

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) had its price objective dropped by stock analysts at Barclays from $296.00 to $274.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 4.61% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on F5 from $296.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on F5 from $304.00 to $262.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, F5 presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $284.00.

F5 Price Performance

FFIV stock opened at $261.92 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $268.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $261.30. F5 has a 52-week low of $159.01 and a 52-week high of $313.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.14.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The network technology company reported $3.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $590.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $719.91 million. F5 had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 20.98%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.91 EPS. Equities analysts expect that F5 will post 11.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 4,093 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.33, for a total value of $1,188,320.69. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,915,557.12. The trade was a 13.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 1,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $538,876.50. This trade represents a 29.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 18,232 shares of company stock worth $5,310,131. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of F5 by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 954 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $240,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC increased its position in shares of F5 by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 685 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $172,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of F5 by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 852 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $214,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank grew its stake in F5 by 0.5% in the fourth 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 during the period. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 2.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

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.