ING Groep NV Makes New $1.87 Million Investment in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

ING Groep NV bought a new position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 7,420 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,866,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in F5 during the 4th quarter valued at about $50,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in F5 by 79.8% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 320 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its holdings in F5 by 783.3% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 318 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 282 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in F5 in the third quarter valued at approximately $84,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in F5 by 1,132.1% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 345 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

F5 Stock Performance

Shares of FFIV stock opened at $295.56 on Monday. F5, Inc. has a 52 week low of $159.01 and a 52 week high of $313.00. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $275.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $241.47. The company has a market capitalization of $17.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 declared that its board has authorized 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at F5

In other F5 news, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 4,093 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.33, for a total transaction of $1,188,320.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 27,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,915,557.12. This represents a 13.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Lyra Amber Schramm sold 253 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.26, for a total transaction of $75,206.78. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,452. This represents a 55.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,574 shares of company stock valued at $3,455,057 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on FFIV. Bank of America lifted their price objective on F5 from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, F5 presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $295.00.

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.