Eventide Asset Management LLC Purchases New Holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Eventide Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,727 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,701,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of F5 by 2.0% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,598 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $572,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in F5 by 212.0% in the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 5,332 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,168,000 after acquiring an additional 3,623 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in shares of F5 by 13.5% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 2,519 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $555,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in shares of F5 by 246.0% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 89,839 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $19,783,000 after purchasing an additional 63,871 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 80,153 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $17,650,000 after purchasing an additional 7,136 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In other F5 news, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total transaction of $197,810.25. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,882 shares in the company, valued at $2,369,407.14. This trade represents a 7.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.26, for a total value of $316,477.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,436,087.72. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,475 shares of company stock valued at $977,039 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

F5 Price Performance

FFIV opened at $250.35 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $229.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $198.92. F5, Inc. has a 1 year low of $159.01 and a 1 year high of $252.30. The company has a market capitalization of $14.68 billion, a PE ratio of 26.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.05.

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

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price 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. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays boosted their target price 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $233.56.

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.