DnB Asset Management AS Increases Stock Holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

DnB Asset Management AS grew its holdings in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,812 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS’s holdings in F5 were worth $4,228,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in F5 by 24.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 409,130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $90,090,000 after buying an additional 81,005 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of F5 by 457.6% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 31,375 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,899,000 after acquiring an additional 25,748 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its stake in shares of F5 by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 194,820 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $48,991,000 after acquiring an additional 7,341 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of F5 by 36.3% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,144 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $539,000 after acquiring an additional 571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in F5 by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 2,224 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $525,000 after purchasing an additional 1,112 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on FFIV shares. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $295.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,500 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.06, for a total value of $1,969,890.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,836,915.82. The trade was a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 4,093 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.33, for a total transaction of $1,188,320.69. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,915,557.12. This represents a 13.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 16,932 shares of company stock valued at $4,965,150. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

F5 Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $263.88 on Monday. F5, Inc. has a 12 month low of $159.01 and a 12 month high of $313.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $284.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $255.09.

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.