F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Shares Sold by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama lessened its stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 5.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 356,203 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 21,184 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in F5 were worth $89,574,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of F5 in the third quarter worth $28,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of F5 in the third quarter worth $32,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of F5 in the fourth quarter worth $50,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of F5 by 79.8% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 320 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of F5 in the third quarter worth $84,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

F5 Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of F5 stock opened at $299.78 on Wednesday. F5, Inc. has a 52-week low of $159.01 and a 52-week high of $308.00. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $262.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $230.26. The firm has a market cap of $17.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 1.06.

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

Insider Transactions at F5

In other news, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total transaction of $197,810.25. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,882 shares in the company, valued at $2,369,407.14. The trade was a 7.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.45, for a total transaction of $221,639.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,770 shares in the company, valued at $538,876.50. The trade was a 29.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,899 shares of company stock worth $1,682,977 over the last ninety days. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FFIV has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target 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. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $295.00.

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.