Bank of America Corp DE Sells 92,428 Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Bank of America Corp DE cut its stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 38.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 148,232 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 92,428 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE owned approximately 0.26% of F5 worth $37,276,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of F5 in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new position in F5 in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in F5 by 31.8% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 203 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Smithfield Trust Co acquired a new stake in F5 during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of F5 in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $60,000. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on FFIV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of F5 from $296.00 to $285.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $290.00 price objective on shares of F5 in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of F5 in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on F5 from $296.00 to $274.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $282.56.

F5 Stock Performance

Shares of FFIV traded up $0.78 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $285.70. The stock had a trading volume of 284,419 shares, compared to its average volume of 573,079. The company's 50-day moving average is $264.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $266.32. F5, Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.45 and a 12 month high of $313.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.41 billion, a PE ratio of 28.40, a PEG ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.00.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The network technology company reported $3.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $590.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $719.91 million. F5 had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.91 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that F5, Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In other news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,300 shares of F5 stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.54, for a total value of $343,902.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 151,700 shares in the company, valued at $40,130,718. This trade represents a 0.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 1,347 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.03, for a total transaction of $362,383.41. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,660 shares in the company, valued at $5,558,159.80. The trade was a 6.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 9,305 shares of company stock worth $2,561,360. Insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

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.