Brandes Investment Partners LP Reduces Stock Position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Brandes Investment Partners LP lessened its stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 15.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,473 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 2,195 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP’s holdings in F5 were worth $3,137,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FFIV. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in F5 by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 147,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,559,000 after purchasing an additional 790 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in F5 by 56.0% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 142,066 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $31,283,000 after buying an additional 51,024 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its holdings in F5 by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 4,520 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $995,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in F5 by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,563 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in F5 by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 8,561 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,885,000 after buying an additional 639 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

F5 Stock Performance

F5 stock opened at $262.46 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $282.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $249.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.13 billion, a PE ratio of 26.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.10. F5, Inc. has a one year low of $159.01 and a one year high of $313.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 4,093 shares of the business’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 transaction of $1,188,320.69. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,915,557.12. The trade was a 13.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Marianne Budnik sold 1,872 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.72, for a total value of $488,067.84. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,207 shares in the company, valued at $314,689.04. This trade represents a 60.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 16,932 shares of company stock valued at $4,965,150. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America lifted their price target on F5 from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, F5 currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $295.00.

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.