Insider Selling: F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) EVP Sells 4,093 Shares of Stock

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 4,093 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.33, for a total value of $1,188,320.69. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,915,557.12. The trade was a 13.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

F5 Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ FFIV opened at $299.78 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.39 billion, a PE ratio of 29.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $262.14 and a 200-day moving average of $230.26. F5, Inc. has a 52-week low of $159.01 and a 52-week high of $308.00.

F5 announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the network technology company to repurchase up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of F5 during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new position in F5 during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in F5 during the fourth quarter worth approximately $50,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in F5 by 783.3% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 318 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 282 shares during the period. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of F5 by 79.8% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 320 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on FFIV. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on F5 from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $295.00.

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.