F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Stock: Insider Francois Locoh-Donou Sells 3,783 Shares

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 3,783 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.70, for a total value of $1,186,727.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 185,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,248,757.10. This trade represents a 2.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

F5 Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $317.31 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a current ratio of 1.73. F5, Inc. has a 52 week low of $223.76 and a 52 week high of $483.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $418.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $364.59. The company has a market capitalization of $17.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.07.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 27th. The network technology company reported $4.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.26 by $0.16. F5 had a net margin of 21.14% and a return on equity of 21.00%. The firm had revenue of $917.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $884.03 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.39 earnings per share. F5’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that F5, Inc. will post 14.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

F5 announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, October 27th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the network technology company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on FFIV shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded F5 from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on F5 from $525.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings cut F5 from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $500.00 price objective on shares of F5 in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of F5 in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, F5 currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $443.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in F5 during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,611,637,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in F5 by 23.9% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 732,219 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $325,969,000 after purchasing an additional 141,131 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in F5 by 24.8% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 726,844 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $302,338,000 after purchasing an additional 144,534 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in F5 by 0.7% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 603,086 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $174,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,296 shares during the period. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in F5 during the second quarter worth approximately $243,865,000. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

F5 Company Profile

F5, Inc. provides application delivery and security solutions that help organizations manage, protect and optimize applications across data centers, public clouds and edge environments. Its offerings serve businesses, government agencies and service providers around the world. The company’s products and services include BIG-IP application delivery and security software, NGINX technologies for application development and delivery, and F5 Distributed Cloud Services. These offerings support functions such as traffic management, web and API protection, application security and multicloud connectivity.