Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 18.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 33,063 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 5,062 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.06% of F5 worth $8,452,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of FFIV. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in F5 during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in F5 during the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in F5 by 79.8% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 320 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in F5 during the 3rd quarter valued at $84,000. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in F5 during the 4th quarter valued at $99,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.66% of the company's stock.
In other news, insider Lyra Amber Schramm sold 253 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.26, for a total value of $75,206.78. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 200 shares in the company, valued at $59,452. This represents a 55.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.06, for a total transaction of $1,969,890.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 151,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,836,915.82. The trade was a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,574 shares of company stock worth $3,455,057 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.
A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of F5 from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com raised shares of F5 from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $295.00.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on F5
FFIV opened at $310.18 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 1.06. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $272.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $238.20. F5, Inc. has a 52-week low of $159.01 and a 52-week high of $312.76.
F5 announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network technology company to reacquire up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.
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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