F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $312.76 and last traded at $310.27, with a volume of 50276 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $310.60.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FFIV. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America increased their price objective on F5 from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, F5 currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $295.00.

F5 Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $17.94 billion, a PE ratio of 30.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $268.87 and a 200-day moving average of $235.46.

F5 announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, October 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network technology company to repurchase up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of F5 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 owns 9,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,369,407.14. This trade represents a 7.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,770 shares in the company, valued at approximately $538,876.50. The trade was a 29.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Chase Investment Counsel Corp acquired a new stake in F5 in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,726,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of F5 by 24.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 409,130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $90,090,000 after purchasing an additional 81,005 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its stake in shares of F5 by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 194,820 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $48,991,000 after purchasing an additional 7,341 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in F5 by 14.3% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 70,536 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $15,532,000 after purchasing an additional 8,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in F5 by 36.3% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,144 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $539,000 after buying an additional 571 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.