Zacks Research Brokers Increase Earnings Estimates for F5

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) – Equities research analysts at Zacks Research boosted their Q4 2026 EPS estimates for shares of F5 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, December 24th. Zacks Research analyst Team now forecasts that the network technology company will earn $3.28 per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $3.27. Zacks Research currently has a “Strong Sell” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for F5’s current full-year earnings is $11.20 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for F5’s Q1 2027 earnings at $2.89 EPS, Q2 2027 earnings at $2.88 EPS, Q3 2027 earnings at $3.26 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $12.52 EPS.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on FFIV. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on F5 from $350.00 to $315.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of F5 from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of F5 from $320.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of F5 in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of F5 from $321.00 to $267.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $291.11.

F5 Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of FFIV opened at $263.14 on Monday. F5 has a 52 week low of $223.76 and a 52 week high of $346.00. The firm has a market cap of $15.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.28, a PEG ratio of 8.38 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $253.55 and a 200-day moving average of $291.36.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 27th. The network technology company reported $4.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.43. F5 had a return on equity of 21.76% and a net margin of 22.42%.The firm had revenue of $810.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $794.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.67 earnings per share. F5’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. F5 has set its FY 2026 guidance at 14.500-15.500 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 3.350-3.850 EPS.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FFIV. State Street Corp boosted its position in F5 by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,226,326 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,042,716,000 after acquiring an additional 53,712 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of F5 by 3.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,741,117 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $511,016,000 after purchasing an additional 64,420 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of F5 by 1.2% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,634,361 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $528,209,000 after purchasing an additional 18,806 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of F5 by 2.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,017,715 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $328,915,000 after purchasing an additional 25,052 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in F5 by 4.1% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 839,648 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $271,366,000 after purchasing an additional 32,970 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other F5 news, insider Lyra Amber Schramm sold 1,062 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.97, for a total value of $262,282.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,309 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.11, for a total value of $310,376.99. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,041,517.10. This trade represents a 13.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 30,685 shares of company stock worth $7,693,345 in the last 90 days. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key F5 News

Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks Research nudged up several near‑term and FY2027 EPS estimates for F5 (small increases to Q4 2026, Q1–Q3 2027 and FY2027 projections) but maintained a “Strong Sell” rating — a modest technical positive to guidance/earnings expectations, but not a consensus upgrade. Zacks Research note
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts have set expectations for F5’s upcoming quarter(s), providing a framework for market reaction to reported results — routine analyst guidance/preview coverage. Analysts Set Expectations for F5’s Q2 Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms (Hagens Berman, Rosen, Robbins Geller, Faruqi & Faruqi, ClaimsFiler and others) are notifying investors about a securities class action (Smith v. F5, Inc.) alleging issues tied to a cybersecurity incident and disclosure timing; firms are soliciting lead‑plaintiff applications and reminders cite a Feb. 17, 2026 deadline and the class period Oct. 28, 2024–Oct. 27, 2025 — this increases litigation risk, potential legal costs and reputational uncertainty for F5. Hagens Berman PR
• Negative Sentiment: Faruqi & Faruqi issued an investor action reminder about the same litigation and the Feb. 17, 2026 lead‑plaintiff deadline — additional outreach that may prompt more claimant coordination and media attention. Faruqi & Faruqi notice
• Negative Sentiment: Rosen Law Firm and Robbins Geller also encourage investors to secure counsel and pursue lead‑plaintiff status, adding to the volume of litigation‑related filings and reminders in the market. Rosen Law Firm notice
• Negative Sentiment: ClaimsFiler issued a shareholder alert reminding investors with sizable losses about the lead‑plaintiff deadline — further sign that litigation activity will remain a near‑term headline risk. ClaimsFiler alert

F5 Company Profile

F5 Inc (NASDAQ:FFIV) specializes in application services and delivery networking, helping organizations ensure the availability, performance and security of their applications. The company’s core offerings include advanced load balancing, traffic management and application security solutions designed to optimize user experiences and protect against threats such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and web application exploits.

At the heart of F5’s product portfolio is the BIG-IP platform, which provides a suite of software modules for local and global traffic management, secure web application firewalling and DNS service delivery.