F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Stock Position Decreased by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC cut its position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 96.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,112 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 33,223 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in F5 were worth $280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in FFIV. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in shares of F5 during the 4th quarter worth about $50,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of F5 by 79.8% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 320 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of F5 during the 3rd quarter worth about $84,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of F5 by 156.0% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 617 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $136,000 after purchasing an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of F5 by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 862 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $190,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In other news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,500 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.06, for a total transaction of $1,969,890.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 151,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,836,915.82. This trade represents a 4.12 % 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, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 4,093 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.33, for a total value of $1,188,320.69. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,264 shares in the company, valued at $7,915,557.12. The trade was a 13.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,574 shares of company stock valued at $3,455,057 in the last 90 days. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on FFIV. Barclays raised their price objective on F5 from $246.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, F5 has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $295.00.

F5 Stock Down 3.0 %

FFIV opened at $295.56 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $275.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $240.71. F5, Inc. has a 12-month low of $159.01 and a 12-month high of $313.00.

F5 announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network technology company to buy up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.