Bank of Nova Scotia Lowers Holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Bank of Nova Scotia reduced its position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 26.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. 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.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of FFIV. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in F5 by 275.0% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 105 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of F5 in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of F5 in the fourth quarter worth $60,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in shares of F5 by 31.4% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 293 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of F5 during the first quarter valued at $92,000. 90.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

F5 Stock Up 1.4%

NASDAQ:FFIV traded up $4.54 on Friday, reaching $321.77. 403,237 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 571,922. F5, Inc. has a 12 month low of $188.31 and a 12 month high of $334.00. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $298.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $284.40. The firm has a market cap of $18.49 billion, a PE ratio of 28.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on FFIV. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on F5 from $304.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective 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. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of F5 in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of F5 from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on F5 from $305.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $309.89.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Elizabeth Buse sold 1,500 shares of F5 stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.53, for a total transaction of $440,295.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,471,465.89. The trade was a 23.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,272 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director directly owned 9,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,843,678.11. This represents a 11.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 8,519 shares of company stock worth $2,520,097. 0.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

F5 Company Profile

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.