Pathstone Holdings LLC Lowers Position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Pathstone Holdings LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,785 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 3,129 shares during the quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC’s holdings in F5 were worth $8,761,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of F5 during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in F5 during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in F5 during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of F5 by 9,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 184 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of F5 during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,159,066.55. This represents a 8.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.26, for a total value of $316,477.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,436,087.72. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,575 shares of company stock valued at $997,039. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

F5 Price Performance

FFIV opened at $244.57 on Friday. F5, Inc. has a one year low of $159.01 and a one year high of $250.46. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $225.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $196.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.58, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.05.

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

F5 declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share 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 repurchase up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on F5 from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.