William Blair Issues Pessimistic Forecast for F5 Earnings

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) - Stock analysts at William Blair dropped their Q2 2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for F5 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, January 29th. William Blair analyst J. Ader now forecasts that the network technology company will post earnings of $2.30 per share for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $2.41. The consensus estimate for F5's current full-year earnings is $11.15 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for F5's Q3 2025 earnings at $2.75 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $3.02 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $11.13 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $11.90 EPS.

FFIV has been the topic of a number of other reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America lifted their target price on F5 from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $295.00.

F5 Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV traded up $4.59 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $299.78. The stock had a trading volume of 806,667 shares, compared to its average volume of 674,062. The company's 50-day moving average price is $262.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $230.26. F5 has a fifty-two week low of $159.01 and a fifty-two week high of $308.00. The company has a market capitalization of $17.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan 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 buy up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In other news, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.45, for a total transaction of $221,639.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,770 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $538,876.50. This trade represents a 29.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $197,810.25. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,369,407.14. This represents a 7.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 5,899 shares of company stock worth $1,682,977. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in F5 during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of F5 in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in shares of F5 during the fourth quarter worth $50,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in F5 by 79.8% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 320 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its holdings in F5 by 783.3% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 318 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 282 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by 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.