Virtu Financial LLC Takes $1.53 Million Position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 6,953 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,531,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Chase Investment Counsel Corp purchased a new stake in shares of F5 during the 3rd quarter worth about $4,726,000. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in F5 by 3.9% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 308,159 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $53,247,000 after acquiring an additional 11,525 shares in the last quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd lifted its stake in F5 by 10.5% in the second quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 28,820 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $4,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,730 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in F5 by 14.3% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 70,536 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $15,532,000 after acquiring an additional 8,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in 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 worth $90,245,000 after acquiring an additional 45,843 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on FFIV. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded F5 from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $233.56.

Insider Activity

In other F5 news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,122 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,436,087.72. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.67, for a total value of $130,602.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,492,007.75. This represents a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 3,475 shares of company stock worth $775,389. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

F5 Stock Performance

Shares of FFIV traded up $0.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $261.81. The company's stock had a trading volume of 564,482 shares, compared to its average volume of 534,335. The stock's 50-day moving average is $237.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $205.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.35 billion, a PE ratio of 27.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.06. F5, Inc. has a one year low of $159.01 and a one year high of $264.50.

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. 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.76 EPS. The business's revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. 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 repurchase plan on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the network technology company to purchase up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.