Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI Buys New Stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI bought a new stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,040 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $263,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FFIV. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in F5 by 1,681.1% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 285,639 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $62,898,000 after acquiring an additional 269,602 shares during the last quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of F5 in the fourth quarter worth $59,623,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 3.6% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 5,489,388 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,208,763,000 after buying an additional 191,020 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of F5 in the third quarter worth $35,090,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 8.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,573,995 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $345,560,000 after buying an additional 117,080 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on FFIV. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of F5 from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. One research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $295.00.

F5 Price Performance

NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $282.73 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.10, a PEG ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.10. F5, Inc. has a 1-year low of $159.01 and a 1-year high of $313.00. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $280.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $246.28.

Insider Activity at F5

In related news, EVP Scot Frazier Rogers sold 3,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.18, for a total transaction of $1,022,025.48. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,885,588.50. This trade represents a 14.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 4,093 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.33, for a total transaction of $1,188,320.69. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,915,557.12. This represents a 13.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 15,060 shares of company stock worth $4,477,083. 0.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.