Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Sells 164 Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund cut its stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,726 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 164 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in F5 were worth $380,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of FFIV. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of F5 by 6,700.2% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 848,388 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $146,118,000 after buying an additional 835,912 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new position in F5 in the third quarter worth about $61,386,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in F5 by 1,681.1% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 285,639 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $62,898,000 after purchasing an additional 269,602 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of F5 by 48.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 652,972 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $111,932,000 after buying an additional 214,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of F5 by 10.5% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

F5 Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of F5 stock opened at $239.67 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $224.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $195.51. The company has a market capitalization of $13.97 billion, a PE ratio of 25.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.05. F5, Inc. has a 52 week low of $159.01 and a 52 week high of $250.46.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.45 by $0.22. F5 had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 20.13%. The company had revenue of $747.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.43 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.76 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that F5, Inc. will post 11.01 earnings per share for the current year.

F5 announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, October 28th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network technology company to repurchase up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at F5

In related news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $218.26, for a total transaction of $316,477.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,436,087.72. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total value of $201,650.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,159,066.55. This trade represents a 8.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,750 shares of company stock worth $799,229 over the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on FFIV shares. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on F5 from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. StockNews.com raised F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, F5 presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $233.56.

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.