Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Trims Stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. decreased its position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 17.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 70,572 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 15,085 shares during the quarter. F5 comprises approximately 0.8% of Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of F5 worth $17,747,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of FFIV. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in F5 in the third quarter worth $28,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of F5 by 9,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 184 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the period. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new stake in F5 in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Brown Financial Advisors acquired a new position in F5 during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $66,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in F5 by 79.8% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 320 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

F5 Stock Performance

FFIV traded down $3.92 on Friday, hitting $254.92. 110,844 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 380,893. F5, Inc. has a 12 month low of $159.01 and a 12 month high of $264.50. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $250.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $216.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.94 billion, a PE ratio of 26.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 20.13%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.76 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that F5, Inc. will post 11.01 earnings per share for the current year.

F5 declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network technology company to buy up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other F5 news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.67, for a total transaction of $130,602.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 29,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,492,007.75. The trade was a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of F5 stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total value of $197,810.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,369,407.14. This represents a 7.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on FFIV shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of F5 from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on F5 from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $239.33.

About F5

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.