Shell Asset Management Co. lessened its stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV – Get Rating) by 14.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,941 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 2,687 shares during the period. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in F5 were worth $2,288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of F5 during the third quarter worth $47,457,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in F5 during the third quarter worth about $28,193,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in F5 by 19.8% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,075,970 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $224,824,000 after purchasing an additional 178,042 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in F5 by 174.6% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 248,534 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $35,970,000 after buying an additional 158,022 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in F5 by 1.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,830,286 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,427,188,000 after buying an additional 96,873 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.34% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several brokerages have weighed in on FFIV. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of F5 from $155.00 to $146.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Cowen lowered their price target on shares of F5 from $187.00 to $177.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of F5 from $177.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $175.00 price target on shares of F5 in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price target on shares of F5 from $211.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 18th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $166.13.
F5 Stock Up 1.7 %
NASDAQ FFIV opened at $134.36 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.40 billion, a PE ratio of 24.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $141.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $144.65. F5, Inc. has a 12-month low of $127.05 and a 12-month high of $178.32.
F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 19th. The network technology company reported $2.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.42 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $703.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $699.18 million. F5 had a net margin of 11.74% and a return on equity of 16.56%. F5’s quarterly revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.30 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that F5, Inc. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.
Insider Buying and Selling at F5
In other news, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 259 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.12, for a total value of $36,809.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 13,683 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,944,627.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 259 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.12, for a total transaction of $36,809.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 13,683 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,944,627.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 1,156 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.49, for a total transaction of $175,122.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,663,511.69. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,140 shares of company stock valued at $1,507,816 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.
F5 Profile
F5, Inc engages development and provision of software defined application services. It offers the development, marketing and sale of application delivery networking products that optimize the security, performance, and availability of network applications, servers, and storage systems. The company was founded on February 26, 1996, and is headquartered in Seattle, WA.