F5, Inc. $FFIV Position Boosted by Panagora Asset Management Inc.

Key Points

• Panagora Asset Management Inc. has increased its stake in F5, Inc. by 14.0%, acquiring a total of 373,084 shares valued at approximately $99.3 million.
• Analyst ratings for F5 have varied, with Wall Street Zen downgrading the stock from a "strong-buy" to a "buy," while Royal Bank of Canada and Barclays both raised their price targets significantly.
• F5, Inc. reported earnings of $4.16 per share, surpassing analysts' expectations and resulting in a year-over-year revenue increase of 12.2%.

Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 14.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 373,084 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 45,815 shares during the quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.65% of F5 worth $99,341,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FFIV. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in F5 during the fourth quarter worth approximately $272,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new stake in F5 during the fourth quarter worth approximately $204,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in F5 by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 954 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $240,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new stake in F5 during the fourth quarter worth approximately $503,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in F5 by 38.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 913,021 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $229,597,000 after buying an additional 251,534 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of F5 from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of F5 in a research note on Monday, July 7th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of F5 from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of F5 from $304.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of F5 from $314.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, F5 currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $309.89.

F5 Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV traded up $2.30 on Wednesday, reaching $309.03. 450,501 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 539,205. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.23, a PEG ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.08. F5, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $197.34 and a fifty-two week high of $334.00. The business's 50-day moving average is $306.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $286.80.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.67. The company 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 firm's revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.36 earnings per share. F5 has set its FY 2025 guidance at 15.240-15.380 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 3.870-3.990 EPS. Analysts predict that F5, Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 1,347 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.73, for a total value of $417,206.31. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 20,699 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,411,101.27. This trade represents a 6.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Elizabeth Buse sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.53, for a total transaction of $440,295.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,471,465.89. This trade represents a 23.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,744 shares of company stock worth $3,347,605 in the last 90 days. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.