Alan Higginson Sells 825 Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Stock

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total value of $197,810.25. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,369,407.14. This trade represents a 7.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Alan Higginson also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, September 9th, Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of F5 stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total value of $201,650.00.

F5 Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FFIV opened at $246.98 on Friday. F5, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $159.01 and a fifty-two week high of $250.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $226.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $196.91.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.45 by $0.22. F5 had a net margin of 20.13% and a return on equity of 20.80%. The company had revenue of $747.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $730.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.76 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that F5, Inc. will post 11.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

F5 declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, October 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network technology company to purchase up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on FFIV. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on F5 from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target 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, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, F5 presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $233.56.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

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

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.