F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Shares Bought by Columbus Macro LLC

Columbus Macro LLC lifted its position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 46.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,605 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the period. Columbus Macro LLC’s holdings in F5 were worth $404,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Chase Investment Counsel Corp acquired a new stake in F5 during the third quarter valued at $4,726,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of F5 by 24.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 409,130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $90,090,000 after purchasing an additional 81,005 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in shares of F5 by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 70,536 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $15,532,000 after purchasing an additional 8,800 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in F5 by 36.3% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,144 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $539,000 after purchasing an additional 571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addenda Capital Inc. boosted its position in F5 by 43.5% during the fourth quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 50,314 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,652,000 after purchasing an additional 15,240 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at F5

In related news, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 4,093 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.33, for a total value of $1,188,320.69. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,915,557.12. This represents a 13.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 9,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,369,407.14. This trade represents a 7.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,899 shares of company stock worth $1,682,977 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FFIV has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their target price on F5 from $246.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of 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 research report on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on F5 from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $295.00.

F5 Stock Performance

Shares of F5 stock opened at $299.78 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $262.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $230.26. The company has a market cap of $17.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.80, a PEG ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 1.06. F5, Inc. has a one year low of $159.01 and a one year high of $308.00.

F5 declared that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 reacquire up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.