1776 Wealth LLC Invests $220,000 in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

1776 Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 1,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of F5 by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 28,746 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,330,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139 shares in the last quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. bought a new position in F5 in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,094,000. Empirical Finance LLC raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 2,049 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $451,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in F5 during the third quarter worth about $7,561,000. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in F5 by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 8,561 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,885,000 after purchasing an additional 639 shares during the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In other news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.73, for a total value of $98,365.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,123,221.25. The trade was a 1.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $218.26, for a total value of $316,477.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,122 shares in the company, valued at $26,436,087.72. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,250 shares of company stock valued at $897,594 in the last 90 days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

F5 Price Performance

Shares of F5 stock traded down $3.69 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $238.36. 491,461 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 535,923. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $222.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $194.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.93, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.05. F5, Inc. has a 12-month low of $159.01 and a 12-month high of $250.46.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.43 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.76 earnings per share. F5’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that F5, Inc. will post 11.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

F5 announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network technology company to reacquire up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. StockNews.com upgraded F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of F5 from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $233.56.

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.