LSV Asset Management Increases Stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 1,057.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 90,290 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 82,490 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management’s holdings in F5 were worth $15,551,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Great Lakes Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of F5 by 33.9% in the second quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 52,730 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $9,082,000 after buying an additional 13,343 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its position in F5 by 10.1% during the 2nd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 4,379 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $754,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC grew its position in F5 by 50.0% during the 2nd quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 1,602 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $276,000 after acquiring an additional 534 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in F5 by 14.4% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 91,042 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $15,680,000 after acquiring an additional 11,436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC bought a new position in F5 during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FFIV has been the topic of several recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on F5 from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on F5 from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on F5 from $182.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays raised their price target on F5 from $189.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut F5 from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, F5 presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $200.89.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total value of $201,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,159,066.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total value of $201,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,159,066.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.73, for a total value of $98,365.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 31,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,123,221.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 7,771 shares of company stock worth $1,463,205 in the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

F5 Stock Performance

NASDAQ FFIV opened at $201.28 on Wednesday. F5, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $145.45 and a fifty-two week high of $205.92. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $188.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $182.11. The stock has a market cap of $11.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The network technology company reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $695.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $686.06 million. F5 had a return on equity of 21.03% and a net margin of 19.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.46 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that F5, Inc. will post 10.18 earnings per share for the current year.

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.