F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Short Interest Up 9.4% in October

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,320,000 shares, a growth of 9.4% from the October 15th total of 2,120,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 603,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.8 days. Approximately 4.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In other news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $218.26, for a total transaction of $316,477.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 121,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,436,087.72. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.67, for a total value of $130,602.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 29,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,492,007.75. This represents a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 4,250 shares of company stock worth $897,594. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of F5

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of F5 during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of F5 during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of F5 during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Family Firm Inc. bought a new stake in shares of F5 in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in F5 by 9,100.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 184 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

F5 Stock Down 1.5 %

F5 stock traded down $3.69 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $238.36. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 491,461 shares, compared to its average volume of 736,844. F5 has a twelve month low of $159.01 and a twelve month high of $250.46. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $222.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $194.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.05.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.45 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $747.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.43 million. F5 had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 20.13%. F5’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.76 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that F5 will post 11.01 earnings per share for the current year.

F5 announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, October 28th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network technology company to buy up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FFIV has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price target on F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on F5 from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, F5 presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $233.56.

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.