F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Shares Sold by Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lowered its holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 17.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 70,572 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 15,085 shares during the quarter. F5 comprises about 0.8% of Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in F5 were worth $17,747,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in F5 by 3.6% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 5,489,388 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,208,763,000 after purchasing an additional 191,020 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of F5 by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,187,222 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $701,825,000 after acquiring an additional 16,663 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in F5 by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,709,296 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $294,392,000 after buying an additional 162,820 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in F5 by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,573,995 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $345,560,000 after purchasing an additional 117,080 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in F5 by 6,700.2% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 848,388 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $146,118,000 after acquiring an additional 835,912 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

F5 Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of FFIV stock traded down $3.92 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $254.92. 110,844 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 380,893. F5, Inc. has a 52-week low of $159.01 and a 52-week high of $264.50. The company has a market cap of $14.94 billion, a PE ratio of 26.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $250.40 and a 200 day moving average of $216.88.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.45 by $0.22. F5 had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 20.13%. The company had revenue of $747.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.43 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.76 EPS. F5’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that F5, Inc. will post 11.01 EPS for the current year.

F5 announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network technology company to buy up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.67, for a total value of $130,602.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,492,007.75. The trade was a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total transaction of $197,810.25. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,369,407.14. This trade represents a 7.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FFIV has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. StockNews.com raised shares of F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on F5 from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of F5 from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $239.33.

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.