New York State Teachers Retirement System Increases Stock Holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 54,040 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,345 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in F5 were worth $13,589,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of F5 by 24.6% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,730 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $381,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in F5 by 2,788.1% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,213 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $267,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its stake in F5 by 8.7% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 4,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $956,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in F5 in the third quarter worth about $211,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in shares of F5 by 14.0% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 7,404 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,630,000 after buying an additional 909 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

F5 Stock Performance

NASDAQ FFIV opened at $310.18 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $17.99 billion, a PE ratio of 30.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 1.06. F5, Inc. has a 52-week low of $159.01 and a 52-week high of $312.76. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $272.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $238.20.

F5 announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network technology company to repurchase up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In other F5 news, insider Lyra Amber Schramm sold 253 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.26, for a total transaction of $75,206.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,452. This represents a 55.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.45, for a total transaction of $221,639.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,770 shares in the company, valued at approximately $538,876.50. The trade was a 29.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 11,574 shares of company stock valued at $3,455,057. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FFIV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on F5 from $246.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com upgraded F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, F5 currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $295.00.

F5 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.