University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV – Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 6,913 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,078,000.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in F5 in the 2nd quarter valued at $70,355,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in F5 in the 2nd quarter worth $2,611,637,000. Nykredit A S bought a new position in F5 during the 2nd quarter worth about $14,596,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in F5 by 14.6% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 22,144 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $9,211,000 after purchasing an additional 2,814 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in F5 by 96.0% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 555,809 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $231,194,000 after purchasing an additional 272,273 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
FFIV has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings lowered F5 from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on F5 from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of F5 in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on F5 from $415.00 to $448.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on F5 from $525.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $443.00.
F5 Stock Performance
Shares of FFIV opened at $310.84 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.81, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.07. F5, Inc. has a 12 month low of $223.76 and a 12 month high of $483.30. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $421.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $364.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.
F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The network technology company reported $4.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.26 by $0.16. F5 had a net margin of 21.14% and a return on equity of 21.00%. The firm had revenue of $917.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $884.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.39 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that F5, Inc. will post 14.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.
F5 announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, October 27th that authorizes the company to buy back $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network technology company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In related news, CTO Michael F. Montoya sold 1,297 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.68, for a total transaction of $427,594.96. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 1,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $431,551.12. This represents a 49.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Edward Werner sold 599 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.06, for a total value of $194,111.94. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $923,895.06. This trade represents a 17.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 26,478 shares of company stock valued at $9,077,136 in the last quarter. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
F5 News Roundup
Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:
- Positive Sentiment: F5’s board authorized a $1.5 billion share-repurchase program, which could support demand for shares. The company also recently beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, with revenue up 13.2% year over year.
- Neutral Sentiment: An article noted recent options-market activity in FFIV but did not specify whether trading was bullish or bearish, so its significance is unclear. Do Options Traders Know Something About F5 Stock We Don’t?
- Negative Sentiment: Seven F5 executives and insiders sold roughly $7.2 million in shares in transactions dated November 3–4, including the CFO, CTOs and EVPs. The sales could create near-term concern, though they were made under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, which can reduce their significance as a signal about executives’ views of the company. Insider Selling: F5 CFO Sells Shares
F5 Company Profile
F5, Inc provides application delivery and security solutions that help organizations manage, protect and optimize applications across data centers, public clouds and edge environments. Its offerings serve businesses, government agencies and service providers around the world.
The company’s products and services include BIG-IP application delivery and security software, NGINX technologies for application development and delivery, and F5 Distributed Cloud Services. These offerings support functions such as traffic management, web and API protection, application security and multicloud connectivity.
Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Seattle, F5 was previously known as F5 Networks before adopting the F5 name in 2021.
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