Fmr LLC Boosts Stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Fmr LLC boosted its holdings in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 68.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 58,236 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 23,563 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC’s holdings in F5 were worth $12,824,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FFIV. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of F5 in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new position in F5 during the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of F5 in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of F5 by 9,100.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 184 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of F5 by 49.7% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 241 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

F5 Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $260.07 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $235.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $204.29. F5, Inc. has a 12-month low of $159.01 and a 12-month high of $260.75. The firm has a market cap of $15.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.20, a PEG ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.45 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $747.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.43 million. F5 had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 20.13%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.76 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that F5, Inc. will post 11.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

F5 announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, October 28th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the network technology company to repurchase up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total transaction of $197,810.25. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,369,407.14. This trade represents a 7.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.50, for a total value of $130,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 30,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,617,437.50. The trade was a 1.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,475 shares of company stock valued at $775,389 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on FFIV. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, F5 currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $233.56.

F5 Profile

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.