10,150 Shares in F5, Inc. $FFIV Acquired by Rakuten Investment Management Inc.

Key Points

• Rakuten Investment Management acquired 10,150 F5 shares in the third quarter, valued at approximately $4.45 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 90.66% of F5.
• F5 beat quarterly estimates, reporting adjusted earnings of $4.42 per share and revenue of $917.4 million, up 13.2% year over year. Its board also authorized a $1.5 billion share-repurchase program.
• Analysts’ average rating is Hold, with an average price target of $443. Several insiders sold shares, including the CFO, in transactions conducted under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans.

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 10,150 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $4,446,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of F5 during the second quarter worth $2,611,637,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in F5 in the second quarter valued at $243,865,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in F5 in the second quarter valued at $208,277,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in F5 during the 2nd quarter worth about $205,453,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in F5 during the 2nd quarter worth about $172,297,000. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Maddison sold 619 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.06, for a total value of $200,593.14. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at $507,477.96. The trade was a 28.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Edward Werner sold 599 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.06, for a total transaction of $194,111.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 2,851 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $923,895.06. This trade represents a 17.36% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 26,478 shares of company stock valued at $9,077,136. 0.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FFIV has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Barclays reaffirmed a "mixed" rating on shares of F5 in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of F5 from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of F5 from $415.00 to $448.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $500.00 price objective on shares of F5 in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $443.00.

Key Stories Impacting F5

Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:

• Positive Sentiment: F5’s board authorized a $1.5 billion share-repurchase program, which could support demand for shares. The company also recently beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, with revenue up 13.2% year over year.
• Neutral Sentiment: An article noted recent options-market activity in FFIV but did not specify whether trading was bullish or bearish, so its significance is unclear. Do Options Traders Know Something About F5 Stock We Don't?
• Negative Sentiment: Seven F5 executives and insiders sold roughly $7.2 million in shares in transactions dated November 3–4, including the CFO, CTOs and EVPs. The sales could create near-term concern, though they were made under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, which can reduce their significance as a signal about executives’ views of the company. Insider Selling: F5 CFO Sells Shares

F5 Stock Performance

Shares of FFIV traded down $0.90 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $310.84. 1,090,954 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 978,013. The business's 50-day moving average price is $421.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $364.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.59. F5, Inc. has a twelve month low of $223.76 and a twelve month high of $483.30. The company has a market capitalization of $17.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.81, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.07.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The network technology company reported $4.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.26 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $917.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $884.03 million. F5 had a return on equity of 21.00% and a net margin of 21.14%. The business's revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.39 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that F5, Inc. will post 14.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

F5 declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, October 27th that allows the company to buy back $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network technology company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

F5 Company Profile

F5, Inc provides application delivery and security solutions that help organizations manage, protect and optimize applications across data centers, public clouds and edge environments. Its offerings serve businesses, government agencies and service providers around the world.

The company's products and services include BIG-IP application delivery and security software, NGINX technologies for application development and delivery, and F5 Distributed Cloud Services. These offerings support functions such as traffic management, web and API protection, application security and multicloud connectivity.

Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Seattle, F5 was previously known as F5 Networks before adopting the F5 name in 2021.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.