Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 13,934 Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Van ECK Associates Corp trimmed its stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 54.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,878 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 13,934 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp's holdings in F5 were worth $2,987,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Chase Investment Counsel Corp acquired a new position in F5 in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,726,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of F5 by 24.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 409,130 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $90,090,000 after acquiring an additional 81,005 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of F5 by 457.6% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 31,375 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $7,899,000 after acquiring an additional 25,748 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its holdings in shares of F5 by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 194,820 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $48,991,000 after purchasing an additional 7,341 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of F5 by 14.3% during the third 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 buying an additional 8,800 shares during the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other F5 news, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 4,093 shares of F5 stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.33, for a total transaction of $1,188,320.69. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,264 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,915,557.12. The trade was a 13.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of F5 stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.45, for a total value of $221,639.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,770 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $538,876.50. This trade represents a 29.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,574 shares of company stock worth $3,455,057 over the last ninety days. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

F5 Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ FFIV traded down $2.35 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $293.21. The company had a trading volume of 505,720 shares, compared to its average volume of 614,895. F5, Inc. has a 1 year low of $159.01 and a 1 year high of $313.00. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $276.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $242.20. The company has a market capitalization of $16.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, October 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network technology company to buy up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FFIV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $295.00.

F5 Company 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.