Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Sells 64,886 Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC cut its stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 24.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 203,349 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 64,886 shares during the period. F5 comprises approximately 1.0% of Wedge Capital Management L L P NC's holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned approximately 0.35% of F5 worth $54,146,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in F5 in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of F5 in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of F5 in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in F5 by 31.8% during 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 purchased a new stake in F5 during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $57,000. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on FFIV shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of F5 from $269.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on F5 from $296.00 to $285.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of F5 in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $290.00 price target on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of F5 from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $282.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Marianne Budnik sold 1,872 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.72, for a total value of $488,067.84. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,207 shares of the company's stock, valued at $314,689.04. This trade represents a 60.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Michael L. Dreyer sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.96, for a total value of $514,728.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,376 shares in the company, valued at $1,251,360.96. The trade was a 29.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,891 shares of company stock valued at $2,418,732 in the last quarter. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

F5 Trading Down 0.3%

FFIV traded down $0.77 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $292.89. 251,046 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 564,648. The company has a market cap of $16.82 billion, a PE ratio of 29.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.00. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $271.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $271.70. F5, Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.67 and a 1 year high of $313.00.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. F5 had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 20.58%. The firm had revenue of $590.16 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $719.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.91 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect 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.