F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Sets New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $313.00 and last traded at $307.59, with a volume of 611066 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $310.18.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FFIV. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on F5 from $246.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on F5 from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, F5 presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $295.00.

F5 Trading Down 1.8 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $17.56 billion, a PE ratio of 30.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $274.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $239.96.

F5 announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network technology company to buy up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 1,770 shares in the company, valued at $538,876.50. This represents a 29.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.06, for a total value of $1,969,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 151,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,836,915.82. This represents a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,574 shares of company stock worth $3,455,057 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in F5 during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new stake in F5 during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in F5 during the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in F5 by 31.8% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co acquired a new stake in F5 during the 4th quarter valued at $57,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

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.