Smithfield Trust Co Purchases Shares of 227 F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Smithfield Trust Co purchased a new stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 227 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FFIV. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in F5 in the third quarter valued at approximately $338,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in F5 by 14.3% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 70,536 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $15,532,000 after buying an additional 8,800 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in F5 by 4.6% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 25,812 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $5,560,000 after buying an additional 1,127 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in F5 by 10.0% in the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,057 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $893,000 after buying an additional 370 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in F5 by 1.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 90,002 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $19,818,000 after buying an additional 1,614 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other F5 news, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 4,093 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.33, for a total value of $1,188,320.69. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Lyra Amber Schramm sold 253 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.26, for a total transaction of $75,206.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,452. This represents a 55.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 15,060 shares of company stock worth $4,477,083. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective 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. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $295.00.

F5 Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of FFIV opened at $282.73 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $16.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.10, a PEG ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.10. F5, Inc. has a 1-year low of $159.01 and a 1-year high of $313.00. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $280.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $246.28.

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.