Zacks Research Brokers Reduce Earnings Estimates for F5

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) – Equities research analysts at Zacks Research reduced their Q4 2027 earnings per share estimates for F5 in a report issued on Monday, January 12th. Zacks Research analyst Team now expects that the network technology company will post earnings per share of $3.49 for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $3.50. Zacks Research currently has a “Hold” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for F5’s current full-year earnings is $11.20 per share.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on FFIV. Evercore ISI reissued a “cautious” rating on shares of F5 in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Bank of America lowered their target price on F5 from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of F5 in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of F5 from $321.00 to $267.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of F5 from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $277.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.78.

F5 Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $273.99 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $15.92 billion, a PE ratio of 23.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.52 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $251.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $288.91. F5 has a one year low of $223.76 and a one year high of $346.00.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FFIV. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in F5 in the second quarter valued at about $207,492,000. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec grew its stake in shares of F5 by 169.2% during the third quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 462,740 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $149,553,000 after acquiring an additional 290,828 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of F5 by 422.7% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 347,125 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $112,187,000 after acquiring an additional 280,719 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in shares of F5 by 40.8% during the second quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 789,283 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $232,302,000 after acquiring an additional 228,790 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of F5 by 217.7% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 229,591 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $74,142,000 after purchasing an additional 157,318 shares during the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other F5 news, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,309 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 8,610 shares in the company, valued at $2,041,517.10. This trade represents a 13.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 1,110 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total value of $294,150.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 12,513 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,315,945. The trade was a 8.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 32,705 shares of company stock worth $8,152,655. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Key F5 News

Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:

• Positive Sentiment: J.P. Morgan upgraded F5 from Neutral to Overweight and raised its price target to $345, signaling stronger institutional conviction and driving buying interest. J.P. Morgan Upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Product momentum: F5’s NGINXaaS for Google Cloud got positive coverage for advancing cloud‑native application delivery and security — a commercial catalyst supporting long‑term cloud revenue growth. NGINXaaS for Google Cloud
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider selling: EVP Thomas Dean Fountain disclosed the sale of 1,110 shares on Jan. 12 (part of a pattern of periodic sales). Insider sales are disclosed and not uncommon; absent other context they are neutral-to-mildly negative. SEC Form 4
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks trimmed a near‑term EPS estimate very slightly and retains a Hold — a modest analyst caution but not a material revision. MarketBeat / Zacks note
• Negative Sentiment: Litigation risk: Multiple plaintiff firms have filed or are soliciting for a securities class action alleging F5 under‑disclosed the financial impact of a material cybersecurity incident discovered Aug. 9, 2025. Notices from Hagens Berman, Robbins Geller and others warn of potential litigation costs, reputational harm and further scrutiny of guidance — a clear near‑term headwind. Representative notices: Hagens Berman Robbins Geller

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.