Victory Capital Management Inc. Has $31.28 Million Stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 56.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 142,066 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 51,024 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in F5 were worth $31,283,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in F5 in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in shares of F5 in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in F5 during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in F5 by 9,100.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 184 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new stake in F5 during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

F5 Price Performance

Shares of FFIV stock opened at $238.36 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $13.89 billion, a PE ratio of 24.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $222.72 and a 200-day moving average of $194.27. F5, Inc. has a one year low of $159.01 and a one year high of $250.46.

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

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on FFIV shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on F5 from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, F5 has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $233.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other F5 news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.26, for a total value of $316,477.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,436,087.72. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.73, for a total transaction of $98,365.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,123,221.25. This represents a 1.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 4,250 shares of company stock worth $897,594. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.