F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,560,000 shares, a growth of 5.4% from the December 31st total of 1,480,000 shares. Currently, 2.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 564,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total value of $197,810.25. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,369,407.14. The trade was a 7.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.45, for a total transaction of $221,639.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $538,876.50. This trade represents a 29.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 5,899 shares of company stock valued at $1,682,977. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of F5

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Chase Investment Counsel Corp purchased a new stake in shares of F5 in the third quarter worth approximately $4,726,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in F5 by 24.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 409,130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $90,090,000 after acquiring an additional 81,005 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in F5 by 14.3% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 8,800 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in F5 by 36.3% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,144 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $539,000 after purchasing an additional 571 shares during the period. Finally, Addenda Capital Inc. lifted its position in shares of F5 by 43.5% during the fourth quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 50,314 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,652,000 after purchasing an additional 15,240 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on FFIV. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com upgraded F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, F5 currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $295.00.

F5 Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of FFIV opened at $299.78 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $262.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $230.26. The company has a market cap of $17.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 1.06. F5 has a twelve month low of $159.01 and a twelve month high of $308.00.

F5 announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program 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 purchase up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

F5 Company 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.