Washington Trust Bank Trims Stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Washington Trust Bank lessened its holdings in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,000 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Washington Trust Bank's holdings in F5 were worth $3,269,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of F5 by 24.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 409,130 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $90,090,000 after purchasing an additional 81,005 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in F5 by 457.6% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 31,375 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $7,899,000 after buying an additional 25,748 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its stake in shares of F5 by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 194,820 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $48,991,000 after acquiring an additional 7,341 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of F5 by 36.3% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,144 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $539,000 after acquiring an additional 571 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 2,224 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $525,000 after acquiring an additional 1,112 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at F5

In other news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.06, for a total transaction of $1,969,890.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 151,247 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,836,915.82. This trade represents a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 4,093 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.33, for a total value of $1,188,320.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,264 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,915,557.12. This trade represents a 13.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 16,932 shares of company stock valued at $4,965,150. Insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

F5 Stock Down 0.8 %

F5 stock traded down $2.21 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $272.84. The stock had a trading volume of 336,452 shares, compared to its average volume of 540,297. F5, Inc. has a 52-week low of $159.01 and a 52-week high of $313.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $284.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $253.66. The stock has a market cap of $15.73 billion, a PE ratio of 27.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.10.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on FFIV shares. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America upped their price target on F5 from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on F5 from $246.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, F5 has an average 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.