Nordea Investment Management AB Sells 4,010 Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Nordea Investment Management AB lessened its position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 72,058 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 4,010 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in F5 were worth $18,201,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FFIV. Empirical Finance LLC increased its holdings in shares of F5 by 2.3% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 2,049 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $451,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in F5 by 2.0% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,598 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $572,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 1,185 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $204,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank boosted its position in shares of F5 by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 2,485 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $547,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

F5 Stock Up 0.6 %

F5 stock opened at $258.84 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $249.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $216.59. F5, Inc. has a twelve month low of $159.01 and a twelve month high of $264.50. The company has a market capitalization of $15.17 billion, a PE ratio of 27.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last released its 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 return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 20.13%. The company had revenue of $747.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.76 EPS. F5’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that F5, Inc. will post 11.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

F5 declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, October 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network technology company to purchase up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 9,882 shares in the company, valued at $2,369,407.14. This represents a 7.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly 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. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FFIV has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of F5 from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of F5 from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $239.33.

About F5

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.