F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Holdings Decreased by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV lowered its position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 29.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 48,256 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 20,005 shares during the period. KBC Group NV owned about 0.08% of F5 worth $10,626,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Simon Quick Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of F5 by 4.9% during the second quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 1,353 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $233,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC grew its position in F5 by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 1,185 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $204,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in F5 by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 28,231 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $4,862,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in F5 by 49.7% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 241 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at F5

In other news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of F5 stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.73, for a total transaction of $98,365.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,125 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,123,221.25. The trade was a 1.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total value of $201,650.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,707 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,159,066.55. This trade represents a 8.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 4,250 shares of company stock worth $897,594. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

F5 Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ FFIV traded down $3.69 during trading on Friday, hitting $238.36. 491,461 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 736,844. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $222.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $194.27. F5, Inc. has a 1 year low of $159.01 and a 1 year high of $250.46.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.45 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $747.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $730.43 million. F5 had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 20.13%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.76 EPS. Research analysts predict that F5, Inc. will post 11.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

F5 declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Monday, October 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network technology company to repurchase up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FFIV has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of F5 from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of F5 from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, F5 has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $233.56.

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.