F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Shares Acquired by Empirical Finance LLC

Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,049 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in F5 were worth $451,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of F5 in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in F5 during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new position in F5 during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in shares of F5 in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of F5 by 9,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 184 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

F5 Stock Performance

Shares of FFIV stock opened at $238.36 on Monday. F5, Inc. has a 1 year low of $159.01 and a 1 year high of $250.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.89 billion, a PE ratio of 24.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $222.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $194.47.

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 firm had revenue of $747.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.76 EPS. F5’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict 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 stock buyback program 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 buy up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at F5

In other news, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total transaction of $201,650.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,159,066.55. This trade represents a 8.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.67, for a total value 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 $6,492,007.75. This represents a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,250 shares of company stock worth $897,594 over the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on FFIV. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI lifted 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. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently 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.