Telemark Asset Management LLC Makes New $13.21 Million Investment in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Telemark Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 60,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,212,000. F5 makes up about 1.3% of Telemark Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest position. Telemark Asset Management LLC owned 0.10% of F5 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FFIV. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in F5 by 424.1% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 7,604 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,442,000 after purchasing an additional 6,153 shares in the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp purchased a new position in shares of F5 during the 3rd quarter valued at $4,726,000. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in F5 by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 308,159 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $53,247,000 after buying an additional 11,525 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in F5 by 195.1% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 21,994 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,170,000 after buying an additional 14,541 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd raised its holdings in F5 by 10.5% during the second quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 28,820 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,730 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on FFIV. Evercore ISI increased their target price on F5 from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. StockNews.com raised shares of F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, F5 presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $233.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.67, for a total transaction of $130,602.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 29,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,492,007.75. This represents a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total value of $201,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,159,066.55. The trade was a 8.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,575 shares of company stock worth $997,039 over the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

F5 Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ FFIV opened at $244.57 on Friday. F5, Inc. has a 12-month low of $159.01 and a 12-month high of $250.46. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $225.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $196.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.05.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.45 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $747.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.43 million. F5 had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 20.13%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.76 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that F5, Inc. will post 11.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

F5 announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, October 28th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the network technology company to purchase up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.