F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Position Increased by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,913 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in F5 were worth $4,253,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 852 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $214,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,607 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $404,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 2.3% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 2,049 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $451,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 2.0% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,598 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $572,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 1,091 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $274,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,500 shares of F5 stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.06, for a total transaction of $1,969,890.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,836,915.82. This trade represents a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 4,093 shares of F5 stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.33, for a total value of $1,188,320.69. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,915,557.12. This trade represents a 13.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 15,060 shares of company stock valued at $4,477,083. 0.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on FFIV shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays raised their target price on F5 from $246.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Evercore ISI raised 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. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on F5 from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $295.00.

F5 Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $275.63 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $281.73 and its 200-day moving average is $247.63. F5, Inc. has a 52-week low of $159.01 and a 52-week high of $313.00.

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.