Vinva Investment Management Ltd Boosts Holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Vinva Investment Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 212.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,332 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,623 shares during the period. Vinva Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in F5 were worth $1,168,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of F5 by 10.5% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,709,296 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $294,392,000 after buying an additional 162,820 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in F5 by 6,700.2% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 848,388 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $146,118,000 after buying an additional 835,912 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of F5 by 48.9% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 652,972 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $111,932,000 after purchasing an additional 214,351 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of F5 by 8.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 598,605 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $103,096,000 after purchasing an additional 48,742 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of F5 by 9.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 523,982 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $90,245,000 after purchasing an additional 45,843 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total value of $197,810.25. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,882 shares in the company, valued at $2,369,407.14. This represents a 7.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.26, for a total value of $316,477.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,436,087.72. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,475 shares of company stock valued at $977,039. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

F5 Stock Performance

Shares of FFIV opened at $250.35 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $229.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $198.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.68 billion, a PE ratio of 26.19, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.05. F5, Inc. has a 1 year low of $159.01 and a 1 year high of $252.30.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.45 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $747.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.43 million. F5 had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 20.13%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.76 earnings per share. Analysts predict that F5, Inc. will post 11.01 EPS for the current year.

F5 announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, October 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network technology company to buy up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FFIV has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays upped their target price on F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $233.56.

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.