F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Price Target Cut to $269.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) had its target price decreased by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $310.00 to $269.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target indicates a potential upside of 9.29% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also commented on FFIV. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays upped their price objective on F5 from $246.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of F5 from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $285.78.

F5 Stock Up 1.1 %

FFIV stock traded up $2.65 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $246.13. 357,159 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 571,796. F5 has a 52 week low of $159.01 and a 52 week high of $313.00. The company has a market cap of $14.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $283.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $256.96.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Lyra Amber Schramm sold 253 shares of F5 stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.26, for a total transaction of $75,206.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,452. This trade represents a 55.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 4,093 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.33, for a total transaction of $1,188,320.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 27,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,915,557.12. This trade represents a 13.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 18,232 shares of company stock worth $5,310,131 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FFIV. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in F5 in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of F5 during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new stake in F5 in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in F5 in the fourth quarter worth approximately $50,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in F5 by 31.8% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 203 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.