F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 9.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 73,180 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 7,295 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.12% of F5 worth $13,098,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Optimum Investment Advisors boosted its position in F5 by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 1,150 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $206,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in F5 by 15.9% during the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 518 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of F5 by 36.1% in the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 279 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its position in shares of F5 by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 10,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,872,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in F5 by 0.5% during the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,496 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,658,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at F5

In other F5 news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.81, for a total value of $89,405.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 31,290 shares in the company, valued at $5,594,964.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other F5 news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.06, for a total transaction of $155,784.06. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,747,364.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.81, for a total transaction of $89,405.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,290 shares in the company, valued at $5,594,964.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,201 shares of company stock valued at $1,908,065 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

F5 Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FFIV opened at $182.13 on Tuesday. F5, Inc. has a 1 year low of $129.93 and a 1 year high of $199.49. The firm has a market cap of $10.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.68, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $187.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.72.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The network technology company reported $2.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.03. F5 had a return on equity of 20.81% and a net margin of 16.43%. The firm had revenue of $681.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.47 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.70 earnings per share. F5’s revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that F5, Inc. will post 9.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $204.00 target price on shares of F5 in a research note on Friday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of F5 from $197.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on F5 from $156.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Barclays raised their price target on F5 from $163.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of F5 in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $192.22.

About F5

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.