F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Position Boosted by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 45.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 126,905 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 39,610 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.21% of F5 worth $22,713,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Optimum Investment Advisors grew its holdings in F5 by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 1,150 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $206,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Horizon Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of F5 by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 1,210 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $177,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of F5 by 2.3% during the second quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,990 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $437,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund increased its position in shares of F5 by 3.3% in the third quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 2,135 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $309,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of F5 by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 3,842 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $562,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at F5

In related news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.09, for a total transaction of $90,045.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 31,508 shares in the company, valued at $5,674,275.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,400 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $23,173,653.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.09, for a total transaction of $90,045.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,674,275.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,751 shares of company stock worth $1,634,872 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

F5 Stock Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $188.84 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $186.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $172.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.11 billion, a PE ratio of 24.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.10. F5, Inc. has a 12-month low of $127.05 and a 12-month high of $199.49.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The network technology company reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.39. The firm 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.65 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that F5, Inc. will post 9.58 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on F5 from $156.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on F5 from $186.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $204.00 target price on shares of F5 in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on F5 from $170.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on F5 from $163.00 to $206.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $185.00.

About F5

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.