LMR Partners LLP Acquires New Holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,298 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $286,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FFIV. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in F5 during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in F5 during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in F5 during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in F5 by 9,100.0% during the 2nd 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. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new position in F5 during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

F5 Trading Up 1.0 %

FFIV opened at $242.02 on Thursday. F5, Inc. has a 1-year low of $159.01 and a 1-year high of $250.46. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $225.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $195.83. The stock has a market cap of $14.10 billion, a PE ratio of 25.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.05.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $747.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $730.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.76 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that F5, Inc. will post 11.01 earnings per share for the current year.

F5 declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network technology company to reacquire up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on F5 from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays increased their price objective on F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, StockNews.com raised F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, F5 has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $233.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,122 shares in the company, valued at $26,436,087.72. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total value of $201,650.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at $2,159,066.55. The trade was a 8.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,750 shares of company stock worth $799,229 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.