Royal Bank Of Canada Boosts F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Price Target to $345.00

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) had its price target upped by Royal Bank Of Canada from $325.00 to $345.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 22.11% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on FFIV. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “cautious” rating on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $325.00 price objective (up previously from $295.00) on shares of F5 in a research note on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of F5 in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded F5 from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $295.00 to $345.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of F5 from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, F5 currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $309.89.

F5 Price Performance

FFIV opened at $282.53 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $258.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $286.89. F5 has a 1 year low of $223.76 and a 1 year high of $346.00. The company has a market capitalization of $16.05 billion, a PE ratio of 23.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.17 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 3,343 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $261.87, for a total transaction of $875,431.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,060 shares in the company, valued at $2,110,672.20. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,309 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.11, for a total transaction of $310,376.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 8,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,041,517.10. The trade was a 13.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 37,158 shares of company stock worth $9,319,717. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of F5 by 275.0% during the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 90 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in F5 in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in F5 by 288.1% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 163 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the period. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC bought a new stake in F5 during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, CNB Bank acquired a new position in F5 in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories 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

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.