Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Has $1.91 Million Stock Position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,577 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 173 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in F5 were worth $1,905,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in shares of F5 in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new stake in F5 during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of F5 in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased 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 worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of F5 during the third quarter worth $84,000. Institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at F5

In other F5 news, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.45, for a total value of $221,639.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $538,876.50. This trade represents a 29.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Lyra Amber Schramm sold 253 shares of F5 stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 55.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,899 shares of company stock valued at $1,682,977 over the last 90 days. 0.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

F5 Stock Up 0.6 %

FFIV opened at $308.35 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $17.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.65, a PEG ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $266.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $234.01. F5, Inc. has a twelve month low of $159.01 and a twelve month high of $310.78.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com raised F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, F5 currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $295.00.

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.