OCONNOR A Distinct Business Unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Makes New $1.51 Million Investment in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

OCONNOR A Distinct Business Unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC acquired a new stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 6,000 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,509,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of F5 by 1.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 144,572 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $31,836,000 after acquiring an additional 2,008 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of F5 by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 90,002 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $19,818,000 after purchasing an additional 1,614 shares during the period. Czech National Bank increased its stake in F5 by 6.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in F5 during the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,000. Finally, Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in F5 during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,081,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company's stock.

F5 Stock Performance

NASDAQ FFIV traded up $2.25 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $284.92. 331,416 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 573,768. The business's 50-day moving average is $264.83 and its 200-day moving average is $265.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.00. F5, Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.45 and a twelve month high of $313.00.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The network technology company reported $3.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $590.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $719.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.91 EPS. The business's revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that F5, Inc. will post 11.2 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FFIV. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $290.00 price target on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. StockNews.com raised shares of F5 from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on F5 from $296.00 to $285.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $282.56.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,300 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.37, for a total transaction of $344,981.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 148,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,446,454.39. The trade was a 0.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 1,347 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.03, for a total value of $362,383.41. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,558,159.80. This trade represents a 6.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,305 shares of company stock valued at $2,561,360 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

F5 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.