F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Position Trimmed by Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio trimmed its stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 8.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 22,857 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 2,149 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in F5 were worth $5,033,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its position in F5 by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 5,489,388 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,208,763,000 after buying an additional 191,020 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,187,222 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $701,825,000 after acquiring an additional 16,663 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 10.5% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,709,296 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $294,392,000 after acquiring an additional 162,820 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in F5 by 6,700.2% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 848,388 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $146,118,000 after purchasing an additional 835,912 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in F5 by 48.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 652,972 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $111,932,000 after purchasing an additional 214,351 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

F5 Price Performance

FFIV stock opened at $261.81 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50-day moving average of $237.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $205.58. F5, Inc. has a 52-week low of $159.01 and a 52-week high of $264.50.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.45 by $0.22. The firm 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.76 EPS. Equities analysts expect that F5, Inc. will post 11.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Transactions at F5

In other news, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 9,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,369,407.14. This trade represents a 7.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.50, for a total value of $130,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 30,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,617,437.50. The trade was a 1.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,475 shares of company stock worth $775,389. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on FFIV shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a 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 has an average 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.