Strs Ohio Raises Holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Strs Ohio increased its stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 20.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,001 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,057 shares during the period. Strs Ohio’s holdings in F5 were worth $2,147,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of F5 by 582.2% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 643,449 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $92,341,000 after acquiring an additional 549,127 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in F5 by 203.5% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 484,516 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $78,052,000 after purchasing an additional 324,886 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of F5 by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,812,095 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $292,001,000 after purchasing an additional 212,784 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of F5 by 110.6% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 390,579 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $56,157,000 after buying an additional 205,111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP raised its position in shares of F5 by 456.2% in the second quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 218,189 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $31,912,000 after buying an additional 178,964 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

F5 Stock Down 1.3 %

F5 stock opened at $177.33 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $187.93 and a 200-day moving average of $175.41. F5, Inc. has a 52-week low of $127.05 and a 52-week high of $199.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.06, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.11.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The network technology company reported $3.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.04 by $0.39. F5 had a net margin of 16.43% and a return on equity of 20.81%. The firm had revenue of $693.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $684.77 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that F5, Inc. will post 9.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of F5 from $170.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. KeyCorp increased their target price on F5 from $186.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Barclays lifted their price target on F5 from $163.00 to $206.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of F5 from $156.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $186.82.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.85, for a total transaction of $273,832.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,002,118.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.06, for a total transaction of $155,784.06. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,747,364.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.85, for a total transaction of $273,832.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,801 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,002,118.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 10,201 shares of company stock worth $1,908,705. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

F5 Company 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.