Handelsbanken Fonder AB Has $3.75 Million Stock Holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 14,900 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in F5 were worth $3,747,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of F5 during the 4th quarter worth about $50,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in F5 by 783.3% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 318 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 282 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in F5 by 79.8% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 320 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in F5 by 1,132.1% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 345 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in F5 in the 3rd quarter valued at about $84,000. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FFIV has been the topic of a number of research reports. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of F5 from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded 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 assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $295.00.

Insider Activity at F5

In other 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 27,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,915,557.12. This trade represents a 13.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.06, for a total transaction of $1,969,890.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,836,915.82. The trade was a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,574 shares of company stock valued at $3,455,057 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

F5 Stock Down 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $295.56 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $17.04 billion, a PE ratio of 29.38, a PEG ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $275.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $241.47. F5, Inc. has a 12-month low of $159.01 and a 12-month high of $313.00.

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

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.