F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Shares Sold by Penserra Capital Management LLC

Penserra Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 22.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 288,514 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 84,843 shares during the quarter. F5 comprises 1.4% of Penserra Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Penserra Capital Management LLC’s holdings in F5 were worth $63,530,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in shares of F5 during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in F5 during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of F5 in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its position in shares of F5 by 9,100.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 184 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of F5 during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. 90.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

F5 Stock Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $246.98 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $14.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $226.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $196.91. F5, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $159.01 and a fifty-two week high of $250.46.

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

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.50, for a total value of $130,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 30,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,617,437.50. This trade represents a 1.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total transaction of $201,650.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,159,066.55. This trade represents a 8.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,575 shares of company stock valued at $997,039 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FFIV has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of F5 from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, F5 presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $233.56.

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.