Bessemer Group Inc. Trims Position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Bessemer Group Inc. cut its position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 73.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,109 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 16,500 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.'s holdings in F5 were worth $1,627,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of F5 by 163.3% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 80,013 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $20,121,000 after purchasing an additional 49,629 shares in the last quarter. Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super purchased a new stake in shares of F5 in the fourth quarter worth $5,856,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of F5 by 72.6% in the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,698 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $452,000 after purchasing an additional 714 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of F5 by 83.1% in the fourth quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 296,506 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $74,562,000 after purchasing an additional 134,537 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of F5 by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 15,157 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,811,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

F5 Price Performance

Shares of FFIV opened at $295.75 on Friday. F5, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.55 and a 1-year high of $313.00. The company has a 50-day moving average of $281.14 and a 200 day moving average of $275.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.06, a PEG ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 1.00.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The network technology company reported $3.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $590.16 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $719.91 million. F5 had a net margin of 21.14% and a return on equity of 21.18%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.91 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that F5, Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.37, for a total transaction of $344,981.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 148,647 shares in the company, valued at $39,446,454.39. This trade represents a 0.87% decrease in their position. 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.03, for a total transaction of $362,383.41. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,660 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,558,159.80. The trade was a 6.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,519 shares of company stock worth $2,370,959 in the last 90 days. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of F5 from $262.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of F5 in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of F5 in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered 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 objective on shares of F5 from $269.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $282.56.

F5 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.

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