Pathstone Holdings LLC Has $8.76 Million Stock Position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Pathstone Holdings LLC trimmed its stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 7.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,785 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 3,129 shares during the period. Pathstone Holdings LLC owned about 0.07% of F5 worth $8,761,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in F5 by 6,700.2% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 848,388 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $146,118,000 after purchasing an additional 835,912 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new position in shares of F5 in the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,386,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of F5 by 1,681.1% in the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 285,639 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $62,898,000 after acquiring an additional 269,602 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of F5 by 48.9% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 652,972 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $111,932,000 after acquiring an additional 214,351 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of F5 by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,709,296 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $294,392,000 after acquiring an additional 162,820 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

F5 Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV traded up $2.69 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $246.98. The stock had a trading volume of 346,233 shares, compared to its average volume of 532,181. The company's 50-day moving average price is $226.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $196.71. The company has a market capitalization of $14.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.05. F5, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $159.01 and a fifty-two week high of $250.46.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.45 by $0.22. The company 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%. The firm's revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.76 EPS. Research analysts expect that F5, Inc. will post 11.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

F5 declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, October 28th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network technology company to purchase up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at F5

In related news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.26, for a total value of $316,477.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,122 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,436,087.72. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total transaction of $201,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,707 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,159,066.55. The trade was a 8.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,575 shares of company stock valued at $997,039 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on FFIV. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective 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, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average 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.