Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Lowers Stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd lessened its stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 24,345 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 4,475 shares during the period. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in F5 were worth $5,361,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of F5 by 10.5% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,709,296 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $294,392,000 after acquiring an additional 162,820 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of F5 by 6,700.2% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 848,388 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $146,118,000 after buying an additional 835,912 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of F5 by 48.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 652,972 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $111,932,000 after buying an additional 214,351 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of F5 by 8.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 598,605 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $103,096,000 after buying an additional 48,742 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 9.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 523,982 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $90,245,000 after acquiring an additional 45,843 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

F5 Stock Up 1.3 %

FFIV stock opened at $251.92 on Wednesday. F5, Inc. has a 52 week low of $159.01 and a 52 week high of $252.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.77 billion, a PE ratio of 26.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $227.29 and a 200 day moving average of $197.64.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.45 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $747.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.43 million. F5 had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 20.13%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.76 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that F5, Inc. will post 11.01 earnings per share for the current year.

F5 announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the network technology company to purchase up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FFIV has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays increased their target price on shares of F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $233.56.

Insider Transactions at F5

In related news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of F5 stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.50, for a total value of $130,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 30,425 shares in the company, valued at $6,617,437.50. The trade was a 1.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the 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 owns 9,882 shares in the company, valued at $2,369,407.14. This represents a 7.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,475 shares of company stock valued at $977,039 in the last 90 days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.