Norden Group LLC Makes New $234,000 Investment in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Key Points

• Norden Group LLC acquired 880 shares of F5, Inc., valued at approximately $234,000, during the first quarter, reflecting growing institutional interest in the company.
• Insider trading activity shows significant sales, with Director Elizabeth Buse selling 1,500 shares for over $440,000 and a total of 5,872 shares sold by insiders in the last three months.
• Analysts have adjusted their price targets for F5 shares, with Piper Sandler raising the target from $304.00 to $355.00, while the stock has a current consensus rating of "Hold."

Norden Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 880 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FFIV. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of F5 by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,604,362 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $402,536,000 after buying an additional 30,367 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in F5 by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,259,848 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $316,814,000 after purchasing an additional 37,354 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in F5 by 38.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 913,021 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $229,597,000 after purchasing an additional 251,534 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in F5 by 34,698.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 746,089 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $198,661,000 after purchasing an additional 743,945 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in F5 by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 650,992 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $163,705,000 after purchasing an additional 116,785 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.66% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on FFIV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on F5 from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on F5 from $304.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays increased their price target on F5 from $274.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on F5 from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on F5 from $305.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, F5 presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $309.89.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Michael L. Dreyer sold 1,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.96, for a total value of $514,728.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,376 shares in the company, valued at $1,251,360.96. This represents a 29.15% 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 link. Also, Director Elizabeth Buse sold 1,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.53, for a total value of $440,295.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,471,465.89. This trade represents a 23.03% 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 valued at $1,702,309 over the last ninety days. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

F5 Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of FFIV traded down $5.99 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $307.43. 790,548 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 494,142. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.03. The firm's fifty day moving average is $294.53 and its 200-day moving average is $282.54. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The network technology company reported $4.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.67. F5 had a return on equity of 21.77% and a net margin of 22.06%. The company had revenue of $780.37 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $750.64 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.36 EPS. F5's quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that F5, Inc. will post 11.2 EPS for the current year.

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.