New York State Common Retirement Fund Purchases 8,800 Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 14.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 70,536 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,800 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.12% of F5 worth $15,532,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of FFIV. Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in shares of F5 during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in shares of F5 during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in shares of F5 during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of F5 by 9,100.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 184 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the period. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of F5 during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other F5 news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.73, for a total transaction 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 trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.73, for a total transaction of $98,365.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,123,221.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total value of $201,650.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,159,066.55. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 4,250 shares of company stock valued at $897,594. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

F5 Price Performance

FFIV stock opened at $232.92 on Wednesday. F5, Inc. has a one year low of $152.97 and a one year high of $250.46. The stock has a market cap of $13.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $215.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $190.43.

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

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FFIV has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their target price on F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on F5 from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on F5 from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $233.56.

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.