Caxton Associates LP Buys 3,891 Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Caxton Associates LP grew its stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 141.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,636 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,891 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LP’s holdings in F5 were worth $1,669,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,544,256 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,897,154,000 after acquiring an additional 64,261 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in F5 by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,604,362 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $402,536,000 after purchasing an additional 30,367 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in F5 by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,259,848 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $316,814,000 after purchasing an additional 37,354 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in F5 by 38.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 913,021 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $229,597,000 after buying an additional 251,534 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of F5 in the 4th quarter worth $171,127,000. 90.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

F5 Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of F5 stock opened at $267.19 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $265.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $262.99. F5, Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.45 and a 12-month high of $313.00. The firm has a market cap of $15.40 billion, a PE ratio of 26.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.00.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The network technology company reported $3.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the firm earned $2.91 earnings per share. F5’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that F5, Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at F5

In other F5 news, Director Marianne Budnik sold 1,872 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.72, for a total value of $488,067.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $314,689.04. This represents a 60.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,300 shares of F5 stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.54, for a total transaction of $343,902.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,700 shares in the company, valued at $40,130,718. The trade was a 0.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,805 shares of company stock worth $4,531,250 over the last quarter. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FFIV has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $320.00 price objective on shares of F5 in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on F5 from $296.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of F5 from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $282.56.

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.