Monarch Capital Management Inc. Sells 1,255 Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Monarch Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 7.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,786 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 1,255 shares during the quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in F5 were worth $3,937,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of F5 during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in F5 in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new position in F5 in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co bought a new position in shares of F5 during the fourth quarter worth about $57,000. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at F5

In related news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,300 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.54, for a total value of $343,902.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 151,700 shares in the company, valued at $40,130,718. The trade was a 0.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,272 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.69, for a total transaction of $364,669.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,843,678.11. This trade represents a 11.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,519 shares of company stock worth $2,370,959. Insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FFIV has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $290.00 price objective on shares of F5 in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen cut F5 from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Piper Sandler raised their target price on F5 from $262.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of F5 in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on F5 from $296.00 to $285.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $282.56.

F5 Stock Performance

FFIV traded down $5.05 on Friday, reaching $286.61. The company had a trading volume of 253,468 shares, compared to its average volume of 564,349. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $274.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $272.54. The company has a market cap of $16.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.00. F5, Inc. has a 52-week low of $165.68 and a 52-week high of $313.00.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The network technology company reported $3.42 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $719.91 million. F5 had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 20.98%. F5's quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that F5, Inc. will post 11.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.