Cerity Partners LLC Has $1.09 Million Holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 11.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,111 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 610 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in F5 were worth $1,093,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FFIV. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of F5 during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Addison Advisors LLC grew its stake in F5 by 36.1% in the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 279 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in F5 in the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. Headinvest LLC acquired a new position in F5 in the third quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its stake in F5 by 24.7% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 470 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.02, for a total value of $1,203,328.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 123,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,173,653.02. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other F5 news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.06, for a total transaction of $155,784.06. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,747,364.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,400 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.02, for a total value of $1,203,328.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 123,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,173,653.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,701 shares of company stock valued at $1,818,660. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

F5 Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of FFIV opened at $177.33 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. F5, Inc. has a twelve month low of $127.05 and a twelve month high of $199.49. The company has a 50 day moving average of $187.93 and a 200-day moving average of $175.66.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The network technology company reported $3.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $693.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $684.77 million. F5 had a return on equity of 20.81% and a net margin of 16.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that F5, Inc. will post 9.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on F5 from $156.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on F5 from $186.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $204.00 price objective on shares of F5 in a report on Friday, February 9th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of F5 in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of F5 from $170.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $192.22.

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.