F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 65,536 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 5,000 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.11% of F5 worth $16,480,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in FFIV. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in F5 in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of F5 by 79.8% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 320 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 1,132.1% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 345 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 317 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in F5 during the 3rd quarter worth about $84,000. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in F5 during the 4th quarter valued at about $99,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at F5

In other news, insider Lyra Amber Schramm sold 253 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.26, for a total value of $75,206.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,452. This represents a 55.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.45, for a total transaction of $221,639.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,770 shares in the company, valued at $538,876.50. This represents a 29.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 11,574 shares of company stock valued at $3,455,057. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

F5 Price Performance

F5 stock opened at $295.56 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $275.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $241.47. The stock has a market cap of $17.04 billion, a PE ratio of 29.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.06. F5, Inc. has a 1-year low of $159.01 and a 1-year high of $313.00.

F5 announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network technology company to reacquire up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on FFIV. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $295.00.

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.