Custom Index Systems LLC Purchases 453 Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Custom Index Systems LLC increased its position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 16.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,288 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 453 shares during the quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC’s holdings in F5 were worth $827,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of F5 during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new position in F5 in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in F5 during the fourth quarter worth approximately $50,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in F5 by 79.8% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of F5 during the third quarter worth approximately $84,000. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, F5 has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $295.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In other news, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.45, for a total value of $221,639.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,770 shares in the company, valued at approximately $538,876.50. This trade represents a 29.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total transaction of $197,810.25. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,882 shares in the company, valued at $2,369,407.14. This trade represents a 7.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

F5 Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of F5 stock opened at $297.26 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $17.24 billion, a PE ratio of 29.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50 day moving average of $260.25 and a 200-day moving average of $227.89. F5, Inc. has a 1-year low of $159.01 and a 1-year high of $308.00.

F5 announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network technology company to reacquire up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.