F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Position Decreased by Swedbank AB

Swedbank AB decreased its holdings in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 0.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 706,474 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 483 shares during the period. Swedbank AB’s holdings in F5 were worth $155,566,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Chase Investment Counsel Corp purchased a new stake in F5 during the third quarter valued at about $4,726,000. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in F5 by 3.9% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 308,159 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $53,247,000 after buying an additional 11,525 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in F5 by 195.1% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 21,994 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,170,000 after buying an additional 14,541 shares in the last quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd lifted its stake in F5 by 10.5% during the second quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 28,820 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,964,000 after buying an additional 2,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in F5 by 14.3% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 70,536 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $15,532,000 after buying an additional 8,800 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In other F5 news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.50, for a total transaction of $130,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 30,425 shares in the company, valued at $6,617,437.50. This trade represents a 1.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total value of $201,650.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,159,066.55. This trade represents a 8.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,575 shares of company stock worth $997,039 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

F5 Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $246.98 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $226.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $196.91. F5, Inc. has a 52 week low of $159.01 and a 52 week high of $250.46. The company 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 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.45 by $0.22. F5 had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 20.13%. The firm had revenue of $747.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.76 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that F5, Inc. will post 11.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FFIV has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target 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. StockNews.com raised shares of F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target 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. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, F5 currently 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.