Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Has $32.56 Million Position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 0.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 147,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 790 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.25% of F5 worth $32,559,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FFIV. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in shares of F5 in the third quarter worth about $28,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in F5 during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new position in F5 in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of F5 in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC raised its position in shares of F5 by 9,100.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 184 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

F5 Stock Down 1.5 %

FFIV opened at $238.36 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $222.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $194.27. The stock has a market cap of $13.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.05. F5, Inc. has a 12 month low of $159.01 and a 12 month high of $250.46.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.43 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.76 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that F5, Inc. will post 11.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Transactions at F5

In other F5 news, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 10,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,159,066.55. The trade was a 8.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.73, for a total value of $98,365.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,123,221.25. The trade was a 1.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,250 shares of company stock valued at $897,594 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on FFIV shares. Barclays raised their price target on F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of F5 from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s 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.