F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Hits New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $308.32 and last traded at $307.44, with a volume of 617656 shares. The stock had previously closed at $303.32.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on FFIV shares. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, F5 presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $295.00.

F5 Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average is $265.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $232.21. The company has a market cap of $17.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, October 28th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows 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 management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $197,810.25. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,882 shares in the company, 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,899 shares of company stock worth $1,682,977. 0.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of F5 during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of F5 during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of F5 during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Smithfield Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of F5 during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of F5 by 783.3% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. 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.