Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Acquires 1,094 Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 21.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,092 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,094 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in F5 were worth $1,090,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of F5 during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of F5 by 56.4% during the fourth quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 258 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of F5 by 36.1% during the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 279 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of F5 during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of F5 by 68.0% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 294 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FFIV has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on F5 from $197.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $204.00 price objective on shares of F5 in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of F5 in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on F5 from $156.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on F5 from $170.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $192.22.

F5 Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FFIV opened at $181.85 on Friday. F5, Inc. has a one year low of $129.93 and a one year high of $199.49. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $187.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.69 billion, a PE ratio of 23.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.11.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The network technology company reported $3.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.04 by $0.39. F5 had a return on equity of 20.81% and a net margin of 16.43%. The firm had revenue of $693.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $684.77 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.65 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that F5, Inc. will post 9.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at F5

In related news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.02, for a total transaction of $1,203,328.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 123,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,173,653.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.02, for a total transaction of $1,203,328.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 123,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,173,653.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.06, for a total value of $155,784.06. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,008 shares in the company, valued at $2,747,364.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 10,201 shares of company stock worth $1,908,065. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.