First Trust Advisors LP Increases Stock Position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,259,848 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 37,354 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 2.17% of F5 worth $316,814,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in F5 by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,544,256 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,897,154,000 after acquiring an additional 64,261 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of F5 by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,604,362 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $402,536,000 after purchasing an additional 30,367 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of F5 during the fourth quarter worth $171,127,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in F5 by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 656,231 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $165,022,000 after buying an additional 80,570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in F5 by 598.3% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 425,275 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $106,944,000 after purchasing an additional 364,372 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays upped their price target on F5 from $246.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on F5 from $304.00 to $262.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of F5 from $310.00 to $269.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $289.67.

Insider Activity

In other F5 news, Director Marianne Budnik sold 1,872 shares of F5 stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.72, for a total value of $488,067.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,207 shares of the company's stock, valued at $314,689.04. The trade was a 60.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.06, for a total value of $1,969,890.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,247 shares in the company, valued at $45,836,915.82. This represents a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 18,232 shares of company stock worth $5,310,131 over the last three months. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

F5 Trading Up 3.0 %

NASDAQ FFIV traded up $7.69 on Wednesday, hitting $262.46. 568,780 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 579,312. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.13 billion, a PE ratio of 26.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.14. F5, Inc. has a 1-year low of $159.01 and a 1-year high of $313.00. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $271.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $259.75.

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.