Lazard Asset Management LLC Purchases 61,388 Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 887.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 68,306 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 61,388 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.12% of F5 worth $17,176,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC grew its position in F5 by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 144,572 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $31,836,000 after purchasing an additional 2,008 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in F5 by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 90,002 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $19,818,000 after purchasing an additional 1,614 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its position in F5 by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 12,596 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,168,000 after purchasing an additional 723 shares during the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in F5 in the 4th quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in shares of F5 in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,081,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at F5

In related news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 1,347 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.03, for a total transaction of $362,383.41. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,660 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,558,159.80. This trade represents a 6.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.54, for a total transaction of $343,902.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,130,718. This represents a 0.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,305 shares of company stock worth $2,561,360. 0.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $290.00 target price on shares of F5 in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of F5 in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of F5 from $262.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of F5 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $282.56.

F5 Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of FFIV traded up $2.25 on Friday, reaching $284.92. 331,416 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 573,768. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $264.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $265.91. F5, Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.45 and a 12 month 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.31. F5 had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The company had revenue of $590.16 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $719.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.91 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict 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.