Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Trims Stake in F5, Inc. $FFIV

Key Points

• Bank Julius Baer cut its F5 stake by 38.4% in the fourth quarter, selling 5,086 shares and leaving it with 8,142 shares valued at about $2.1 million.
• F5 reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $3.90 versus $3.47 expected and revenue of $811.7 million versus $783.82 million estimated, while also raising guidance for fiscal 2026.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed but constructive overall: the stock has a Hold average rating with an average price target of $316.44, even as several firms recently lifted targets and reiterated positive ratings.

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich reduced its position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 38.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,142 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 5,086 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich's holdings in F5 were worth $2,108,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FFIV. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in F5 by 166.5% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 62,906 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $16,750,000 after purchasing an additional 39,305 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in F5 by 1,281.4% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $257,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in F5 by 38.4% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 298,297 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $79,428,000 after purchasing an additional 82,835 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new position in F5 during the 1st quarter worth $257,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in F5 by 288.1% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 163 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

F5 Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $362.58 on Friday. F5, Inc. has a 12-month low of $223.76 and a 12-month high of $365.83. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $306.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $276.69. The company has a market capitalization of $20.46 billion, a PE ratio of 29.74, a P/E/G ratio of 8.38 and a beta of 1.00.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The network technology company reported $3.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.47 by $0.43. F5 had a return on equity of 21.50% and a net margin of 21.96%.The business had revenue of $811.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $783.82 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.42 EPS. The business's revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. F5 has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.910-4.030 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 16.250-16.550 EPS. Research analysts predict that F5, Inc. will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on FFIV. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating on shares of F5 in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on F5 from $345.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on F5 from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of F5 in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on F5 from $355.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $316.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 6,200 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.19, for a total value of $2,171,178.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 20,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,295,158.08. This trade represents a 22.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Michael L. Dreyer sold 3,067 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.41, for a total value of $866,151.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,309 shares in the company, valued at $369,674.69. This represents a 70.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 29,328 shares of company stock worth $9,319,571. Insiders own 0.48% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about F5

Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research increased its FY2026 EPS estimate for F5 to $12.80 from $12.33, above the broader consensus of $12.71, signaling improving near-term earnings expectations.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts also lifted FY2027 EPS to $13.02 from $12.67 and FY2028 EPS to $13.48 from $13.34, reinforcing the view that F5’s earnings trajectory remains strong.
• Positive Sentiment: Several quarterly estimates were nudged higher, including Q1 2027, Q3 2027, Q4 2027, Q1 2028, and Q2 2028, which may add confidence in the company’s longer-term outlook.
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks lowered its Q2 2027 EPS estimate slightly to $2.92 from $2.96 and trimmed Q4 2026 to $3.22 from $3.28, though these minor cuts do not offset the broader upward revisions.
• Neutral Sentiment: F5 recently reported solid quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue expectations, which continues to provide a supportive backdrop for the stock. Article Title

F5 Profile

F5 Inc NASDAQ: FFIV specializes in application services and delivery networking, helping organizations ensure the availability, performance and security of their applications. The company's core offerings include advanced load balancing, traffic management and application security solutions designed to optimize user experiences and protect against threats such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and web application exploits.

At the heart of F5's product portfolio is the BIG-IP platform, which provides a suite of software modules for local and global traffic management, secure web application firewalling and DNS service delivery.

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