QRG Capital Management Inc. Has $893,000 Stock Position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,057 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 370 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in F5 were worth $893,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FFIV. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in shares of F5 by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 204,506 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $45,032,000 after acquiring an additional 18,739 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in F5 by 4.6% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 25,812 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $5,560,000 after purchasing an additional 1,127 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in F5 by 116.5% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 85,657 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $18,862,000 after purchasing an additional 46,086 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 14.3% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 70,536 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $15,532,000 after purchasing an additional 8,800 shares during the period. Finally, Oak Harvest Investment Services bought a new position in shares of F5 during the 3rd quarter worth about $661,000. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on FFIV shares. StockNews.com raised F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of F5 from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, F5 has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $233.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total transaction of $201,650.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at $2,159,066.55. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other F5 news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $218.26, for a total transaction of $316,477.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,436,087.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total value of $201,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,159,066.55. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,250 shares of company stock valued at $897,594. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

F5 Price Performance

FFIV opened at $241.31 on Friday. F5, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $155.48 and a fifty-two week high of $250.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.24, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50-day moving average is $218.47 and its 200 day moving average is $191.95.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $747.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $730.43 million. F5 had a net margin of 20.13% and a return on equity of 20.80%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.76 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that F5, Inc. will post 10.99 earnings per share for the current year.

F5 announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network technology company to repurchase up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.