Strategic Global Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Strategic Global Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,496 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the period. Strategic Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in F5 were worth $1,634,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of FFIV. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of F5 by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 144,572 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,836,000 after buying an additional 2,008 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in F5 by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 1,090 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $274,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management purchased a new stake in F5 in the fourth quarter worth about $245,000. Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in shares of F5 during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,041,000. Finally, Kera Capital Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of F5 during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $272,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $269.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of F5 from $262.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of F5 from $296.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $282.56.

F5 Trading Up 0.8%

FFIV stock opened at $284.92 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $16.36 billion, a PE ratio of 28.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.00. F5, Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.45 and a 12 month high of $313.00. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $264.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $266.10.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The network technology company reported $3.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.31. F5 had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 20.58%. The business had revenue of $590.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $719.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.91 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that F5, Inc. will post 11.2 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Scot Frazier Rogers sold 3,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.18, for a total transaction of $1,022,025.48. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,885,588.50. This represents a 14.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 1,347 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.03, for a total value of $362,383.41. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,558,159.80. This represents a 6.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 9,305 shares of company stock worth $2,561,360. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

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.