Vise Technologies Inc. Makes New Investment in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,411 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $606,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of F5 in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of F5 in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of F5 by 31.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 203 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Smithfield Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of F5 in the 4th quarter worth approximately $57,000. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of F5 in the 4th quarter worth approximately $60,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at F5

In related news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 1,347 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.03, for a total value of $362,383.41. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,558,159.80. This trade represents a 6.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,272 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.69, for a total value of $364,669.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,843,678.11. This represents a 11.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,577 shares of company stock worth $2,926,029 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on FFIV. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $290.00 price target on shares of F5 in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $320.00 price target on shares of F5 in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on F5 from $262.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Bank of America increased their target price on F5 from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on F5 from $296.00 to $274.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, F5 presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $282.56.

F5 Price Performance

NASDAQ FFIV opened at $282.10 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.04, a PEG ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.00. F5, Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.45 and a 1-year high of $313.00. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $266.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $268.05.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The network technology company reported $3.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $590.16 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $719.91 million. F5 had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 20.58%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.91 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that F5, Inc. will post 11.2 EPS for the current year.

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.