Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Stock

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) had its price objective boosted by stock analysts at Barclays from $267.00 to $283.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 0.17% from the stock’s previous close.

FFIV has been the subject of several other research reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of F5 in a report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded F5 from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 28th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of F5 from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Evercore ISI reiterated a “cautious” rating on shares of F5 in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of F5 from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $295.00 to $345.00 in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, F5 presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $309.89.

F5 Trading Down 3.3%

Shares of NASDAQ FFIV opened at $282.53 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $258.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $286.89. The stock has a market cap of $16.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.37, a PEG ratio of 9.17 and a beta of 0.98. F5 has a 12 month low of $223.76 and a 12 month high of $346.00.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The network technology company reported $4.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.82. The firm had revenue of $822.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $755.97 million. F5 had a net margin of 22.45% and a return on equity of 22.08%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.84 earnings per share. F5 has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 3.340-3.460 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 15.650-16.050 EPS. Analysts forecast that F5 will post 11.2 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at F5

In other F5 news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.99, for a total transaction of $308,087.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 150,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,625,047.77. This trade represents a 0.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 8,318 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.78, for a total transaction of $2,077,670.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,618,301.54. This represents a 27.00% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 37,158 shares of company stock valued at $9,319,717. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FFIV. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in shares of F5 by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 52,921 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,511,000 after acquiring an additional 921 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its holdings in F5 by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 19,288 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,923,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in F5 by 141.2% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,023,869 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $261,353,000 after purchasing an additional 599,384 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of F5 by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,357,293 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,878,023,000 after buying an additional 114,533 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its position in shares of F5 by 17,181.1% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 309,158 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $78,916,000 after buying an additional 307,369 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting F5

Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 results and guidance: F5 reported stronger-than-expected Q1 results (EPS and revenue beat) and raised Q2 and FY26 EPS guidance, which drove earlier upside and supports the revenue/AI momentum narrative. Q1 Results / Guidance
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upside: RBC Capital raised its price target to $345 (outperform), and other firms raised targets or reiterated coverage after the results — these upgrades add upside conviction for some investors. RBC PT Raise
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks upgrade: Zacks moved FFIV to a #1 (Strong Buy), reinforcing post‑earnings optimism among some retail/quant investors. Zacks Upgrade
• Neutral Sentiment: Modest analyst caution: Barclays raised its target slightly but kept an equal‑weight rating, and some analysts highlight valuation/operational risks despite the beat. Barclays Note
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider selling: An F5 EVP sold several thousand shares in January (Form 4 filed). Routine liquidity vs. signal debate — monitored by investors. SEC Form 4
• Neutral Sentiment: Street commentary: Post‑earnings writeups highlight strong systems/product demand and AI/regulatory tailwinds but flag margin pressure and competitive risks — mixed implications for near‑term flows. Seeking Alpha Analysis
• Negative Sentiment: Legal overhang: Numerous law firms (Hagens Berman, Rosen, Robbins Geller, others) have issued investor notices and are soliciting plaintiffs in securities‑class actions tied to an alleged F5 security incident; the approaching Feb. 17 lead‑plaintiff deadline creates tangible litigation and reputational risk that can pressure the stock. Hagens Berman Alert Rosen Notice

About F5

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.