F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" by Analysts

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of "Hold" from the nine analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $285.78.

A number of brokerages have commented on FFIV. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on F5 from $310.00 to $269.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of F5 from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th.

Insider Transactions at F5

In other 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 transaction of $1,188,320.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,915,557.12. The trade was a 13.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 18,232 shares of company stock valued at $5,310,131. Insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in F5 in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of F5 in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new position in F5 in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in shares of F5 during the 4th quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of F5 by 31.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 203 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company's stock.

F5 Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV traded up $22.61 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $264.14. 632,460 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 573,989. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $280.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $257.36. F5 has a twelve month low of $159.01 and a twelve month high of $313.00. The company has a market cap of $15.23 billion, a PE ratio of 26.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.14.

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.