Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Trims Stock Position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC cut its position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 265,048 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 20,591 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in F5 were worth $66,652,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FFIV. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in shares of F5 in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of F5 by 783.3% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 318 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of F5 by 79.8% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 320 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of F5 by 1,132.1% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 345 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of F5 in the third quarter valued at approximately $84,000. 90.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on FFIV shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $295.00.

F5 Trading Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $293.21 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $276.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $242.20. F5, Inc. has a twelve month low of $159.01 and a twelve month high of $313.00. The company has a market capitalization of $16.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 declared that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In related news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.06, for a total value of $1,969,890.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,836,915.82. This trade represents a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.45, for a total transaction of $221,639.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,770 shares in the company, valued at approximately $538,876.50. This trade represents a 29.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 11,574 shares of company stock worth $3,455,057. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

F5 Company Profile

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.