CIBC Asset Management Inc Purchases 363 Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,924 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 363 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc’s holdings in F5 were worth $2,244,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of F5 by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,607 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $404,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC grew its stake in F5 by 2.3% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 2,049 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $451,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in F5 by 2.0% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,598 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $572,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its stake in F5 by 2.9% in the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 2,030 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $447,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Greenleaf Trust lifted its stake in F5 by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 1,091 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $274,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FFIV has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Evercore ISI raised 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. StockNews.com raised shares of F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, F5 currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $295.00.

F5 Price Performance

FFIV opened at $295.56 on Friday. F5, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $159.01 and a fifty-two week high of $313.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.04 billion, a PE ratio of 29.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s 50-day moving average is $275.62 and its 200 day moving average is $240.71.

F5 announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.