HB Wealth Management LLC Acquires Shares of 2,910 F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

HB Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,910 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $775,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in F5 during the 1st quarter worth $383,000. Drive Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in F5 during the 1st quarter worth about $205,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in F5 by 659.3% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 316,992 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $84,405,000 after buying an additional 275,244 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in F5 by 19.3% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,180 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,113,000 after buying an additional 677 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in F5 during the 1st quarter worth about $216,000. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

F5 Price Performance

NASDAQ:FFIV traded down $5.99 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $307.43. 790,548 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 494,142. The firm's 50-day moving average is $294.53 and its 200-day moving average is $282.54. The stock has a market cap of $17.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.03. F5, Inc. has a 1-year low of $184.80 and a 1-year high of $334.00.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The network technology company reported $4.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.67. The firm had revenue of $780.37 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $750.64 million. F5 had a return on equity of 21.77% and a net margin of 22.06%. F5's quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.36 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that F5, Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on F5 from $305.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on F5 in a report on Monday, July 7th. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on F5 from $314.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on F5 from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of F5 in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, F5 currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $309.89.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.32, for a total transaction of $382,616.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 107,100 shares in the company, valued at $31,521,672. This trade represents a 1.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,272 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.69, for a total value of $364,669.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,919 shares in the company, valued at $2,843,678.11. This trade represents a 11.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,872 shares of company stock worth $1,702,309 over the last ninety days. Company 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.