Fmr LLC Has $12.82 Million Stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

FMR LLC raised its position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 68.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 58,236 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 23,563 shares during the period. FMR LLC owned 0.10% of F5 worth $12,824,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in F5 by 10.5% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,709,296 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $294,392,000 after buying an additional 162,820 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of F5 by 6,700.2% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 848,388 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $146,118,000 after purchasing an additional 835,912 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of F5 by 48.9% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 652,972 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $111,932,000 after purchasing an additional 214,351 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of F5 by 8.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 598,605 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $103,096,000 after purchasing an additional 48,742 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of F5 by 9.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 523,982 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $90,245,000 after purchasing an additional 45,843 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.50, for a total value of $130,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 30,425 shares in the company, valued at $6,617,437.50. This represents a 1.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total transaction of $197,810.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,369,407.14. This trade represents a 7.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,475 shares of company stock worth $775,389 over the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FFIV. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of F5 from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $233.56.

F5 Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FFIV traded up $1.80 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $261.87. The stock had a trading volume of 404,359 shares, compared to its average volume of 533,318. F5, Inc. has a one year low of $159.01 and a one year high of $263.31. The company has a market cap of $15.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.06. The business's 50 day moving average is $235.69 and its 200-day moving average is $204.29.

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

F5 declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, October 28th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the network technology company to reacquire up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.