F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Position Boosted by Royal London Asset Management Ltd.

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,854 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,911 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in F5 were worth $4,627,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in shares of F5 by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 181,967 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,322,000 after acquiring an additional 1,812 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in F5 by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 126,809 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $20,434,000 after purchasing an additional 1,416 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in F5 by 85.8% during the 3rd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,820 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $454,000 after buying an additional 1,302 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in F5 by 1.5% during the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 22,378 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,602,000 after buying an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Korea Investment CORP boosted its holdings in shares of F5 by 24.6% in the third quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 8,146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,313,000 after buying an additional 1,610 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.85, for a total value of $273,832.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,801 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,002,118.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.85, for a total value of $273,832.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,801 shares in the company, valued at $23,002,118.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Scot Frazier Rogers sold 3,315 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.46, for a total transaction of $558,444.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,283,790.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,766 shares of company stock valued at $2,026,260. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

F5 Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ FFIV traded down $0.38 during trading on Friday, reaching $167.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 494,954 shares, compared to its average volume of 482,371. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $174.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $179.54. F5, Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.16 and a 1-year high of $199.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.82 billion, a PE ratio of 20.07, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.09.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The network technology company reported $2.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $681.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.47 million. F5 had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 21.41%. F5’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.70 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that F5, Inc. will post 9.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on FFIV. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of F5 from $206.00 to $189.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on F5 from $204.00 to $182.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on F5 from $197.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on F5 from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of F5 in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, F5 has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $185.10.

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.