Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. Decreases Stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lowered its position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 6.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 9,663 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 703 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.’s holdings in F5 were worth $2,128,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FFIV. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of F5 by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,465,022 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,415,294,000 after buying an additional 29,154 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of F5 by 10.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,709,296 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $294,392,000 after buying an additional 162,820 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of F5 by 6,700.2% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 848,388 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $146,118,000 after buying an additional 835,912 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of F5 by 48.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 652,972 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $111,932,000 after buying an additional 214,351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of F5 by 14.2% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 625,734 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $118,607,000 after buying an additional 77,611 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

F5 Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV traded down $0.57 on Friday, reaching $241.31. 544,002 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 737,437. F5, Inc. has a 1-year low of $155.48 and a 1-year high of $250.46. The firm has a market cap of $14.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50-day moving average of $218.47 and a 200-day moving average of $192.03.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.45 by $0.22. F5 had a net margin of 20.13% and a return on equity of 20.80%. The business had revenue of $747.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $730.43 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.76 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that F5, Inc. will post 10.99 earnings per share for the current year.

F5 announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, October 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network technology company to repurchase up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.26, for a total value of $316,477.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,122 shares in the company, valued at $26,436,087.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other F5 news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.73, for a total value of $98,365.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,123,221.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.26, for a total transaction of $316,477.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,122 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,436,087.72. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,250 shares of company stock worth $897,594 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on FFIV shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of F5 from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of F5 from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $233.56.

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.