F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Shares Sold by Monarch Capital Management Inc.

Monarch Capital Management Inc. reduced its holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,041 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 369 shares during the period. Monarch Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in F5 were worth $4,034,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of F5 in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of F5 in the third quarter worth about $32,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of F5 in the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. Brown Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of F5 during the 2nd quarter valued at about $66,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of F5 by 79.8% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 320 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

F5 Trading Up 0.0 %

FFIV opened at $263.95 on Friday. F5, Inc. has a twelve month low of $159.01 and a twelve month high of $267.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.47 billion, a PE ratio of 27.61, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $253.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $220.94.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.76 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that F5, Inc. will post 11.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

F5 declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, October 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network technology company to repurchase up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In other F5 news, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total transaction of $197,810.25. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,369,407.14. This trade represents a 7.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.67, for a total value of $130,602.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 29,825 shares in the company, valued at $6,492,007.75. This represents a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FFIV has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their price target on F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays boosted their price target 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $251.25.

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.