Panagora Asset Management Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Panagora Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 59.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 56,855 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 82,008 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in F5 were worth $9,792,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of F5 by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,465,022 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,415,294,000 after buying an additional 29,154 shares in the last quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP increased its stake in F5 by 38.3% in the fourth quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 1,145,302 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $204,986,000 after acquiring an additional 317,263 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in F5 by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,122,995 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $200,994,000 after acquiring an additional 6,010 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in F5 by 14.2% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 625,734 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $118,607,000 after acquiring an additional 77,611 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in F5 by 9.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 523,982 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $90,245,000 after acquiring an additional 45,843 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on FFIV shares. StockNews.com raised F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on F5 from $182.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on F5 from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on F5 from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on F5 from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned 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, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $200.89.

F5 Price Performance

NASDAQ FFIV opened at $203.15 on Friday. F5, Inc. has a 1 year low of $145.45 and a 1 year high of $205.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.91 billion, a PE ratio of 24.33, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.08. The business’s 50-day moving average is $184.14 and its 200 day moving average is $181.30.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The network technology company reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $695.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $686.06 million. F5 had a return on equity of 21.03% and a net margin of 19.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that F5, Inc. will post 10.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In other news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.55, for a total value of $245,847.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,839,729.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.73, for a total value of $98,365.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,123,221.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.55, for a total value of $245,847.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,839,729.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,536 shares of company stock valued at $2,065,848. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.