iA Global Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 60.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,352 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 6,550 shares during the quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in F5 were worth $958,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Wahed Invest LLC boosted its stake in shares of F5 by 9.7% during the third quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 1,417 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in F5 during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,878,000. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of F5 by 0.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,187,222 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $701,825,000 after acquiring an additional 16,663 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of F5 by 125.7% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 31,618 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $6,962,000 after acquiring an additional 17,611 shares during the period. Finally, Redwood Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of F5 by 4.1% during the third quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC now owns 8,357 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,830,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
FFIV stock opened at $257.92 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $234.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $203.29. F5, Inc. has a 52-week low of $159.01 and a 52-week high of $260.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.98, a PEG ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.06.
F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.45 by $0.22. F5 had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 20.13%. The business had revenue of $747.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.43 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.76 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, October 28th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the network technology company to purchase up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.
In related news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the business's 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,122 shares in the company, valued at $26,436,087.72. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.50, for a total value of $130,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 3,475 shares of company stock valued at $775,389. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.
FFIV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays upped their target price on F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, F5 currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $233.56.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on FFIV
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.
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