F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Stake Lowered by Bank of Nova Scotia

Bank of Nova Scotia reduced its stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 26.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,114 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 2,521 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia's holdings in F5 were worth $1,894,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in F5 by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 20,249 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $5,092,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC lifted its holdings in shares of F5 by 602.3% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 37,414 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $9,408,000 after acquiring an additional 32,087 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of F5 by 76.2% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 110,393 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $27,790,000 after acquiring an additional 47,738 shares during the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in F5 in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $121,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in F5 by 36.5% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 8,383 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,108,000 after purchasing an additional 2,242 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company's stock.

F5 Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of F5 stock traded down $4.00 on Thursday, hitting $317.23. 469,157 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 569,643. F5, Inc. has a 52-week low of $186.19 and a 52-week high of $334.00. The stock has a market cap of $18.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.95, a PEG ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 1.03. The firm's 50-day moving average is $297.44 and its 200 day moving average is $283.95.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The network technology company reported $4.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.67. The business had revenue of $780.37 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $750.64 million. F5 had a net margin of 22.06% and a return on equity of 21.77%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.36 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that F5, Inc. will post 11.2 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other F5 news, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,272 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.69, for a total value of $364,669.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 9,919 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,843,678.11. The trade was a 11.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.14, for a total transaction of $400,582.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,153 shares in the company, valued at $33,942,545.42. This trade represents a 1.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,519 shares of company stock worth $2,520,097. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on FFIV. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of F5 in a report on Monday, July 7th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on F5 from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on F5 from $304.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of F5 in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of F5 from $314.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently 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.