Short Interest in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Declines By 9.9%

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,090,000 shares, a drop of 9.9% from the October 31st total of 2,320,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 632,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.3 days. Currently, 3.6% of the shares of the company are short sold.

F5 Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ FFIV traded down $1.01 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $251.13. 385,494 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 532,420. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $230.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $200.39. F5 has a 12 month low of $159.01 and a 12 month high of $253.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 1.06.

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

F5 announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network technology company to reacquire up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at F5

In other F5 news, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total value of $201,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,159,066.55. This represents a 8.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 30,425 shares in the company, valued at $6,617,437.50. The trade was a 1.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,475 shares of company stock valued at $977,039 over the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Family Firm Inc. bought a new stake in shares of F5 during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of F5 during the third quarter valued at $28,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of F5 by 9,100.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 184 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new position in F5 in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in F5 by 49.7% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 241 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on FFIV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. StockNews.com raised F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” 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 note on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, F5 has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $233.56.

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.