F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst Says

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) had its price target lifted by Morgan Stanley from $262.00 to $310.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the network technology company's stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on FFIV. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of F5 from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $295.00.

F5 Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of FFIV stock traded down $4.22 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $297.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 681,633 shares, compared to its average volume of 577,746. The business has a fifty day moving average of $260.25 and a 200-day moving average of $228.21. F5 has a twelve month low of $159.01 and a twelve month high of $308.00. The stock has a market cap of $17.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.55, a P/E/G ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 declared that its board has authorized a share buyback 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 buy up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 value of $221,639.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,770 shares in the company, valued at $538,876.50. This trade represents a 29.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total value of $197,810.25. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,369,407.14. The trade was a 7.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in F5 by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 5,489,388 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,208,763,000 after purchasing an additional 191,020 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of F5 by 0.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,187,222 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $701,825,000 after buying an additional 16,663 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in F5 by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,573,995 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $345,560,000 after acquiring an additional 117,080 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in F5 by 24.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 409,130 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $90,090,000 after acquiring an additional 81,005 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its position in F5 by 7.7% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 377,387 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $83,101,000 after acquiring an additional 27,124 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.