Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Buys 531 Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,679 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 531 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in F5 were worth $1,931,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FFIV. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in shares of F5 in the 4th quarter worth $50,000. Smithfield Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of F5 during the fourth quarter valued at $57,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of F5 by 79.8% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 320 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its holdings in F5 by 783.3% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 318 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in F5 in the 3rd quarter worth about $84,000. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

F5 Price Performance

Shares of FFIV stock opened at $262.46 on Friday. F5, Inc. has a 1 year low of $159.01 and a 1 year high of $313.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $282.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $249.55. The company has a market cap of $15.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.09, a PEG ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.10.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Lyra Amber Schramm sold 253 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.26, for a total transaction of $75,206.78. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 200 shares in the company, valued at $59,452. This trade represents a 55.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.06, for a total transaction of $1,969,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,836,915.82. This represents a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,932 shares of company stock valued at $4,965,150 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on FFIV shares. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of F5 from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays increased their price target on F5 from $246.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average 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.