Renaissance Technologies LLC Acquires 28,400 Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 13.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 235,436 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 28,400 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in F5 were worth $59,205,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of F5 by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,544,256 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,897,154,000 after purchasing an additional 64,261 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 30,367 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of F5 during the 4th quarter valued at $171,127,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in shares of F5 by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 656,231 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $165,022,000 after acquiring an additional 80,570 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 598.3% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 425,275 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $106,944,000 after purchasing an additional 364,372 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at F5

In other F5 news, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.45, for a total transaction of $221,639.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,770 shares in the company, valued at approximately $538,876.50. This represents a 29.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.37, for a total transaction of $344,981.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 148,647 shares in the company, valued at $39,446,454.39. This trade represents a 0.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 18,232 shares of company stock worth $5,310,131. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

F5 Stock Up 9.4 %

F5 stock opened at $264.14 on Thursday. F5, Inc. has a 52-week low of $159.01 and a 52-week high of $313.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.26, a PEG ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $280.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $257.36.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of F5 from $310.00 to $269.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned 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 a consensus price target of $285.78.

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.