Geode Capital Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,573,995 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 117,080 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 2.70% of F5 worth $345,560,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FFIV. Chase Investment Counsel Corp purchased a new position in shares of F5 in the third quarter worth $4,726,000. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in F5 by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 308,159 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $53,247,000 after acquiring an additional 11,525 shares during the last quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd lifted its position in F5 by 10.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 28,820 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $4,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,730 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in F5 by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 70,536 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $15,532,000 after purchasing an additional 8,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of F5 by 9.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 523,982 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $90,245,000 after purchasing an additional 45,843 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

F5 Price Performance

FFIV stock traded up $0.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $261.81. 564,530 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 534,335. F5, Inc. has a 12-month low of $159.01 and a 12-month high of $264.50. The company has a market cap of $15.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.06. The stock's 50 day moving average is $237.40 and its 200 day moving average is $205.58.

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

F5 announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program 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 buy up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at F5

In other F5 news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $218.26, for a total transaction of $316,477.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 121,122 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,436,087.72. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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 value of $197,810.25. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,369,407.14. The trade was a 7.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,475 shares of company stock valued at $775,389 over the last 90 days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded F5 from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays increased their price target on F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven equities research 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $233.56.

F5 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.