Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Acquires 1,881 Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 8.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,510 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,881 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in F5 were worth $6,415,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of F5 by 3.6% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 5,489,388 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,208,763,000 after purchasing an additional 191,020 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings 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 worth $701,825,000 after buying an additional 16,663 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of F5 by 8.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,573,995 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $345,560,000 after acquiring an additional 117,080 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in F5 by 24.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 409,130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $90,090,000 after acquiring an additional 81,005 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its stake in F5 by 7.7% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 377,387 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $83,101,000 after acquiring an additional 27,124 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

F5 Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FFIV opened at $268.40 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.68, a PEG ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.10. F5, Inc. has a one year low of $159.01 and a one year high of $313.00. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $283.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $252.60.

Insider Activity at F5

In other news, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 4,093 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.33, for a total value of $1,188,320.69. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,915,557.12. The trade was a 13.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.45, for a total value of $221,639.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $538,876.50. This represents a 29.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 16,932 shares of company stock valued at $4,965,150. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, F5 currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $295.00.

F5 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.