680,507 Shares in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Acquired by Norges Bank

Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 680,507 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $171,127,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 1.17% of F5 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of F5 in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in F5 during the 4th quarter valued at about $50,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 31.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 203 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Smithfield Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of F5 in the 4th quarter worth approximately $57,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of F5 by 783.3% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 318 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Lyra Amber Schramm sold 253 shares of F5 stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.26, for a total transaction of $75,206.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,452. The trade was a 55.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.06, for a total transaction of $1,969,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 151,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,836,915.82. This trade represents a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 16,932 shares of company stock valued at $4,965,150 over the last ninety days. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

F5 Trading Down 2.3 %

NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $263.88 on Monday. F5, Inc. has a twelve month low of $159.01 and a twelve month high of $313.00. The company has a market cap of $15.21 billion, a PE ratio of 26.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50 day moving average is $284.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $255.09.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America lifted their target price on F5 from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $295.00.

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.