The Goldman Sachs Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Stock

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) had its target price upped by The Goldman Sachs Group from $257.00 to $295.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "neutral" rating on the network technology company's stock. The Goldman Sachs Group's target price indicates a potential downside of 1.57% from the stock's current price.

FFIV has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on F5 from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of F5 from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $293.13.

F5 Stock Performance

FFIV stock traded up $29.98 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $299.70. 1,194,421 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 571,535. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $256.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $226.03. F5 has a 1-year low of $159.01 and a 1-year high of $308.00. The company has a market cap of $17.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.45 by $0.22. F5 had a net margin of 20.13% and a return on equity of 20.80%. The company had revenue of $747.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.76 earnings per share. F5's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that F5 will post 11.01 earnings per share for the current year.

F5 announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network technology company to purchase up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In related news, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 9,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,369,407.14. This represents a 7.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of F5 by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,607 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $404,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC increased its position in F5 by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 2,049 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $451,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in F5 by 2.0% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,598 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $572,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of F5 by 2.9% in the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 2,030 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $447,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust increased its position in shares of F5 by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 1,091 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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