GAMMA Investing LLC Increases Stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 36.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,144 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 571 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in F5 were worth $539,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 81,005 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of F5 by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 90,002 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $19,818,000 after purchasing an additional 1,614 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its stake in shares of F5 by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 377,387 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $83,101,000 after purchasing an additional 27,124 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of F5 by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 376,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $82,553,000 after purchasing an additional 1,554 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of F5 by 22.1% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 12,825 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,824,000 after purchasing an additional 2,325 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In related news, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total transaction of $197,810.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,369,407.14. This represents a 7.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, 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 shares were 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 owns 29,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,492,007.75. This trade represents a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

F5 Stock Up 1.0 %

FFIV opened at $254.36 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $248.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $215.04. F5, Inc. has a 52 week low of $159.01 and a 52 week high of $264.50. The firm has a market cap of $14.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.61, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.45 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $747.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.43 million. F5 had a net margin of 20.13% and a return on equity of 20.80%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.76 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that F5, Inc. will post 11.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

F5 declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network technology company to reacquire up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on FFIV shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays upped their price target on F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. StockNews.com raised F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on F5 from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $239.33.

F5 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.