Pacer Advisors Inc. Boosts Stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 177.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 41,748 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 26,696 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned 0.07% of F5 worth $10,498,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Empirical Finance LLC increased its stake in F5 by 2.3% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 2,049 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $451,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in shares of F5 by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,598 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $572,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its position in shares of F5 by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 2,030 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $447,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Commerce Bank raised its stake in F5 by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 2,485 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $547,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Finally, Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in F5 by 8.9% during the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,108 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $244,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In other news, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.45, for a total transaction of $221,639.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,770 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $538,876.50. This trade represents a 29.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total transaction of $197,810.25. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,369,407.14. This represents a 7.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

F5 Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FFIV traded down $4.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $297.26. The stock had a trading volume of 681,633 shares, compared to its average volume of 577,746. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $260.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $228.21. The stock has a market cap of $17.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.55, a PEG ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 1.06. F5, Inc. has a twelve month low of $159.01 and a twelve month high of $308.00.

F5 announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, October 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network technology company to reacquire up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FFIV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays raised their target price on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. 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 note on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. One 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $295.00.

About F5

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.