F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) EVP Sells $326,328.42 in Stock

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) EVP Angelique Okeke sold 1,007 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.06, for a total value of $326,328.42. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 2,862 shares in the company, valued at approximately $927,459.72. The trade was a 26.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

F5 Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ FFIV opened at $310.84 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $421.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $364.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.59. F5, Inc. has a one year low of $223.76 and a one year high of $483.30.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The network technology company reported $4.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.26 by $0.16. F5 had a return on equity of 21.00% and a net margin of 21.14%. The firm had revenue of $917.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $884.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.39 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that F5, Inc. will post 14.19 earnings per share for the current year.

F5 announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, October 27th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network technology company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Share buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of F5 during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,611,637,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its position in shares of F5 by 23.9% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 732,219 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $325,969,000 after purchasing an additional 141,131 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of F5 by 24.8% in the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 726,844 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $302,338,000 after purchasing an additional 144,534 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of F5 in the 2nd quarter worth $243,865,000. Finally, Amundi grew its position in F5 by 96.0% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 555,809 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $231,194,000 after purchasing an additional 272,273 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

More F5 News

Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:

• Positive Sentiment: F5’s board authorized a $1.5 billion share-repurchase program, which could support demand for shares. The company also recently beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, with revenue up 13.2% year over year.
• Neutral Sentiment: An article noted recent options-market activity in FFIV but did not specify whether trading was bullish or bearish, so its significance is unclear. Do Options Traders Know Something About F5 Stock We Don’t?
• Negative Sentiment: Seven F5 executives and insiders sold roughly $7.2 million in shares in transactions dated November 3–4, including the CFO, CTOs and EVPs. The sales could create near-term concern, though they were made under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, which can reduce their significance as a signal about executives’ views of the company. Insider Selling: F5 CFO Sells Shares

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FFIV has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of F5 from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of F5 from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Barclays reaffirmed a “mixed” rating on shares of F5 in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $500.00 price objective on shares of F5 in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $443.00.

About F5

F5, Inc provides application delivery and security solutions that help organizations manage, protect and optimize applications across data centers, public clouds and edge environments. Its offerings serve businesses, government agencies and service providers around the world.

The company’s products and services include BIG-IP application delivery and security software, NGINX technologies for application development and delivery, and F5 Distributed Cloud Services. These offerings support functions such as traffic management, web and API protection, application security and multicloud connectivity.

Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Seattle, F5 was previously known as F5 Networks before adopting the F5 name in 2021.