Maverick Capital Ltd. Takes Position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 13,417 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,954,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FFIV. Chase Investment Counsel Corp purchased a new position in F5 during the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,726,000. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in F5 by 3.9% in the 2nd 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 during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in F5 by 195.1% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 21,994 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,170,000 after acquiring an additional 14,541 shares during the period. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd raised 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 valued at $4,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,730 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of F5 by 14.3% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 70,536 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $15,532,000 after purchasing an additional 8,800 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

F5 Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of FFIV stock opened at $250.35 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $229.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $198.92. F5, Inc. has a 52-week low of $159.01 and a 52-week high of $252.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.68 billion, a PE ratio of 26.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.05.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $747.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.76 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that F5, Inc. will post 11.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

F5 declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, October 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network technology company to buy up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FFIV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their price target on F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley upped 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, F5 currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $233.56.

Insider Transactions at F5

In other F5 news, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total value of $197,810.25. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,369,407.14. This trade represents a 7.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.26, for a total transaction of $316,477.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 121,122 shares in the company, valued at $26,436,087.72. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,475 shares of company stock worth $977,039 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.