Handelsbanken Fonder AB Acquires 400 Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,900 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in F5 were worth $3,747,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of F5 by 1,681.1% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 285,639 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $62,898,000 after acquiring an additional 269,602 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of F5 by 3.6% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 5,489,388 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,208,763,000 after acquiring an additional 191,020 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of F5 in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,090,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of F5 by 8.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,573,995 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $345,560,000 after acquiring an additional 117,080 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of F5 by 24.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 409,130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $90,090,000 after acquiring an additional 81,005 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other F5 news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,500 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.06, for a total transaction of $1,969,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 151,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,836,915.82. The trade was a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.45, for a total transaction of $221,639.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $538,876.50. This represents a 29.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,574 shares of company stock valued at $3,455,057. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on FFIV shares. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of F5 from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $295.00.

F5 Stock Performance

FFIV opened at $295.56 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $275.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $241.47. F5, Inc. has a 52 week low of $159.01 and a 52 week high of $313.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.04 billion, a PE ratio of 29.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network technology company to buy up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership 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.