Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Buys New Stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. bought a new stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 858 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC raised its position in F5 by 1.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 144,572 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,836,000 after acquiring an additional 2,008 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its position in F5 by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 1,090 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $274,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management acquired a new position in F5 during the fourth quarter worth $245,000. Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new position in F5 during the fourth quarter worth $1,041,000. Finally, Kera Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new position in F5 during the fourth quarter worth $272,000. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

F5 Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of FFIV opened at $284.92 on Friday. F5, Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.45 and a 12-month high of $313.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $264.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $266.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Scot Frazier Rogers sold 3,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.18, for a total value of $1,022,025.48. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,885,588.50. This trade represents a 14.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Marianne Budnik sold 1,872 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.72, for a total transaction of $488,067.84. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $314,689.04. This trade represents a 60.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 9,305 shares of company stock valued at $2,561,360. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on FFIV. StockNews.com upgraded shares of F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $290.00 price objective on shares of F5 in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of F5 from $269.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of F5 from $296.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of F5 from $296.00 to $274.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, F5 currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $282.56.

F5 Company 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.