F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Short Interest Up 9.4% in October

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,320,000 shares, an increase of 9.4% from the October 15th total of 2,120,000 shares. Approximately 4.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 603,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.8 days.

F5 Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of F5 stock traded down $3.69 during trading on Friday, reaching $238.36. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 491,461 shares, compared to its average volume of 736,844. F5 has a one year low of $159.01 and a one year high of $250.46. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $222.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $194.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.05.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.45 by $0.22. F5 had a net margin of 20.13% and a return on equity of 20.80%. The business had revenue of $747.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $730.43 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.76 earnings per share. F5’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that F5 will post 11.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

F5 announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the network technology company to reacquire up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on FFIV. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of F5 from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $233.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 3rd. The stock was 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. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.67, for a total value of $130,602.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,492,007.75. This represents a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,250 shares of company stock worth $897,594. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FFIV. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its holdings in F5 by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 67,014 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,705,000 after purchasing an additional 3,186 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its stake in shares of F5 by 69.0% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 132,022 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $25,045,000 after buying an additional 53,920 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in F5 by 90.9% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 14,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,746,000 after buying an additional 6,896 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in F5 by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,465,022 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,415,294,000 after acquiring an additional 29,154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its holdings in F5 by 37.3% during the 1st quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 9,548 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,810,000 after acquiring an additional 2,596 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

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.