F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Shares Sold by Swedbank AB

Swedbank AB decreased its holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 0.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 706,474 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 483 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB owned approximately 1.21% of F5 worth $155,566,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in F5 by 6,700.2% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 848,388 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $146,118,000 after acquiring an additional 835,912 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new stake in F5 in the third quarter valued at $61,386,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in F5 by 1,681.1% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 285,639 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $62,898,000 after acquiring an additional 269,602 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in F5 by 48.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 652,972 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $111,932,000 after acquiring an additional 214,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in F5 by 10.5% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,709,296 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $294,392,000 after acquiring an additional 162,820 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at F5

In related news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 30,425 shares in the company, valued at $6,617,437.50. This represents a 1.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total transaction of $197,810.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,369,407.14. This represents a 7.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 4,575 shares of company stock worth $997,039. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

F5 Stock Performance

F5 stock opened at $246.98 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $226.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $196.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.05. F5, Inc. has a one year low of $159.01 and a one year high of $250.46.

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

F5 declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, October 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network technology company to reacquire up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FFIV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of F5 from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, F5 presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.