Barclays PLC Has $31.84 Million Stock Holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 144,572 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,008 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.25% of F5 worth $31,836,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Chase Investment Counsel Corp bought a new position in shares of F5 during the third quarter worth about $4,726,000. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in shares of F5 by 3.9% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 308,159 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $53,247,000 after purchasing an additional 11,525 shares in the last quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd boosted its holdings in F5 by 10.5% during the second quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 28,820 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,964,000 after purchasing an additional 2,730 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 8,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in F5 by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 523,982 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $90,245,000 after buying an additional 45,843 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at F5

In related news, 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 value of $316,477.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,122 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,436,087.72. This represents a 1.18 % 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, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of F5 stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.50, for a total transaction of $130,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 30,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,617,437.50. This trade represents a 1.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,475 shares of company stock worth $775,389. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

F5 Price Performance

NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $261.81 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $237.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $205.33. F5, Inc. has a one year low of $159.01 and a one year high of $264.50.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.45 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $747.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.43 million. F5 had a net margin of 20.13% and a return on equity of 20.80%. F5’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.76 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that F5, Inc. will post 11.01 earnings per share for the current year.

F5 announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, October 28th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network technology company to purchase up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FFIV has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $233.56.

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.