US Bancorp DE Cuts Stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

US Bancorp DE lessened its stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 7.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,848 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 759 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in F5 were worth $1,948,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 2,030 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $447,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Simon Quick Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of F5 by 4.9% in the second quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 1,353 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $233,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of F5 by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 11,531 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,186,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of F5 by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 1,185 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $204,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in F5 by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 28,231 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,862,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

F5 Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $240.12 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.00 billion, a PE ratio of 25.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.05. F5, Inc. has a 52-week low of $154.11 and a 52-week high of $250.46. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $216.08 and a 200 day moving average of $190.82.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.45 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $747.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $730.43 million. F5 had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 20.13%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.76 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that F5, Inc. will post 10.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

F5 declared that its Board of Directors has approved 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 usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FFIV has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of F5 from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $233.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the company’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 owns 29,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,492,007.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 31,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,123,221.25. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.67, for a total transaction of $130,602.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,492,007.75. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 4,250 shares of company stock valued at $897,594. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.