F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Bank of America Analyst Says

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) had its price target upped by Bank of America from $180.00 to $260.00 in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an underperform rating on the network technology company's stock.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on FFIV. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, F5 presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $295.00.

F5 Stock Up 1.6 %

FFIV stock traded up $4.59 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $299.78. 806,572 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 674,055. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $261.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $229.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.80, a PEG ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 1.06. F5 has a 12-month low of $159.01 and a 12-month high of $308.00.

F5 declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, October 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network technology company to repurchase up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total value of $197,810.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,369,407.14. The trade was a 7.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.45, for a total transaction of $221,639.60. Following 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 own 0.52% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of F5

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Amalgamated Bank raised its position in shares of F5 by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 11,729 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,949,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the period. Edge Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in F5 in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,623,000. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of F5 during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lifted its position in shares of F5 by 33.5% during the fourth quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 35,480 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $8,922,000 after purchasing an additional 8,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lipe & Dalton lifted its position in shares of F5 by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. Lipe & Dalton now owns 1,240 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is 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.