Prudential Financial Inc. Buys 22,744 Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Prudential Financial Inc. increased its stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 51.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 66,805 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,744 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in F5 were worth $16,799,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of F5 during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in F5 during the 4th quarter worth about $50,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in F5 by 31.8% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 203 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Smithfield Trust Co bought a new position in shares of F5 in the 4th quarter valued at about $57,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its position in shares of F5 by 783.3% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 318 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 282 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on FFIV shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on F5 from $246.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “neutral” 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 stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, F5 has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $295.00.

Insider Activity at F5

In related news, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 4,093 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.33, for a total transaction of $1,188,320.69. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,264 shares in the company, valued at $7,915,557.12. This trade represents a 13.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,836,915.82. The trade was a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 16,932 shares of company stock worth $4,965,150. 0.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

F5 Trading Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $270.08 on Friday. F5, Inc. has a 1 year low of $159.01 and a 1 year high of $313.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $284.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $253.90. The stock has a market cap of $15.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.85, a PEG ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.10.

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.