Optimize Financial Inc Acquires New Position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Optimize Financial Inc acquired a new stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 8,648 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,175,000. F5 comprises about 1.6% of Optimize Financial Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FFIV. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in F5 during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of F5 during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in shares of F5 in the fourth quarter valued at about $50,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of F5 by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 203 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co acquired a new stake in F5 during the fourth quarter worth about $57,000. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FFIV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price 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. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays raised their target price on F5 from $246.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on F5 from $310.00 to $269.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $285.78.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.45, for a total value of $221,639.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $538,876.50. This trade represents a 29.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.37, for a total transaction of $344,981.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 148,647 shares in the company, valued at $39,446,454.39. The trade was a 0.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 18,232 shares of company stock valued at $5,310,131. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

F5 Price Performance

FFIV stock opened at $261.68 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.09 billion, a PE ratio of 26.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.14. F5, Inc. has a 12 month low of $159.01 and a 12 month high of $313.00. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $278.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $257.87.

F5 Company 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.