Ascent Group LLC Makes New Investment in F5, Inc. $FFIV

Key Points

• Ascent Group LLC has acquired a new stake in F5, Inc., purchasing 1,534 shares valued at approximately $408,000 during the first quarter.
• Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 90.66% of F5, highlighting significant interest and investment in the company.
• F5 reported a strong earnings performance, with $4.16 earnings per share, exceeding expectations, and a revenue increase of 12.2% year-over-year.

Ascent Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,534 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $408,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FFIV. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in F5 by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,826 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $711,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of F5 by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,226 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,566,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its stake in F5 by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 174,812 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $43,960,000 after purchasing an additional 35,291 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in F5 in the 4th quarter valued at $482,000. Finally, Man Group plc raised its stake in F5 by 337.3% in the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 40,550 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $10,197,000 after purchasing an additional 31,277 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company's stock.

F5 Price Performance

FFIV traded down $1.12 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $322.99. 118,934 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 529,965. The business's 50 day moving average price is $311.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $288.11. The company has a market capitalization of $18.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.08. F5, Inc. has a 1 year low of $211.89 and a 1 year high of $337.39.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The network technology company reported $4.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.67. F5 had a return on equity of 21.77% and a net margin of 22.06%.The company had revenue of $780.37 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.64 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.36 earnings per share. F5's quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. F5 has set its FY 2025 guidance at 15.240-15.380 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 3.870-3.990 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that F5, Inc. will post 11.2 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at F5

In other news, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 5,297 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.24, for a total value of $1,706,905.28. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 23,591 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,601,963.84. This represents a 18.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 1,347 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.73, for a total value of $417,206.31. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 20,699 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,411,101.27. The trade was a 6.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,945 shares of company stock valued at $3,762,365. Insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on F5 from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on F5 from $304.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays increased their price objective on F5 from $274.00 to $321.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on F5 from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on F5 from $314.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $309.89.

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.