Element Capital Management LLC Buys New Shares in F5, Inc. $FFIV

Key Points

• Element Capital Management LLC has acquired a new stake of 9,996 shares of F5, Inc., valued at approximately $2.66 million.
• F5 has seen significant changes in institutional holdings, with multiple firms increasing their investments, leading to 90.66% of the stock being owned by hedge funds and institutional investors.
• The stock recently reported $4.16 EPS for the quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, and has experienced a quarterly revenue increase of 12.2% compared to the same period last year.

Element Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 9,996 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $2,662,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in F5 by 134.1% in the first quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 103 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in F5 by 275.0% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 105 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in F5 in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in F5 in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in F5 by 31.4% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 293 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on FFIV. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $305.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of F5 in a report on Monday, July 7th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $274.00 to $321.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $309.89.

Insider Activity at F5

In other news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 1,347 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.73, for a total transaction of $417,206.31. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 20,699 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,411,101.27. This represents a 6.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.14, for a total transaction of $400,582.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,153 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,942,545.42. This trade represents a 1.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,816 shares of company stock valued at $4,227,002 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

F5 Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of FFIV stock traded down $1.88 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $313.60. 80,379 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 543,350. The business has a 50 day moving average of $301.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $286.20. F5, Inc. has a 52 week low of $195.06 and a 52 week high of $334.00. The company has a market capitalization of $18.02 billion, a PE ratio of 27.61, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 1.03.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 22.06% and a return on equity of 21.77%. The company had revenue of $780.37 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.64 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.36 earnings per share. The firm's 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, research analysts forecast that F5, Inc. will post 11.2 EPS for the current year.

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.