Convergence Investment Partners LLC Takes Position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Convergence Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 6,830 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,718,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its stake in F5 by 3.6% during the 3rd 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 increased its stake in F5 by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,187,222 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $701,825,000 after purchasing an additional 16,663 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in F5 by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,573,995 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $345,560,000 after purchasing an additional 117,080 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in F5 by 24.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 409,130 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $90,090,000 after acquiring an additional 81,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its holdings in F5 by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 377,387 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $83,101,000 after acquiring an additional 27,124 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.66% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FFIV has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $295.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other F5 news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were 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 directly owns 151,247 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,836,915.82. This represents a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.45, for a total transaction of $221,639.60. Following the sale, 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 ninety days, insiders have sold 11,574 shares of company stock valued at $3,455,057. 0.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

F5 Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV traded down $9.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $295.56. The company had a trading volume of 467,919 shares, compared to its average volume of 703,624. The company's 50 day moving average price is $275.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $241.08. The stock has a market cap of $17.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.06. F5, Inc. has a 52-week low of $159.01 and a 52-week high of $313.00.

F5 announced that its board has approved a stock buyback 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 repurchase 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 shares are undervalued.

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.