Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases 6,162 Shares of F5, Inc. $FFIV

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake in F5, Inc. by 9.3%, owning over 72,000 shares valued at approximately $19 million at the end of the most recent quarter.
• F5 reported a strong earnings performance, with $4.16 earnings per share (EPS), exceeding analyst expectations by $0.67 for the quarter, along with a revenue of $780.37 million.
• Insider trading activity included CEO Francois Locoh-Donou selling 1,300 shares, resulting in a 1.17% decrease in their ownership, while insiders as a group hold just 0.52% of the stock.

Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 9.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 72,267 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,162 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.13% of F5 worth $19,243,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in F5 by 134.1% during the first quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 103 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its position in F5 by 275.0% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in F5 during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in F5 by 31.4% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 293 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its position in F5 by 32.7% during the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 325 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on FFIV. Barclays upped their price target on shares of F5 from $274.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. 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 research report on Thursday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research 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 research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of F5 from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $309.89.

Insider Activity at F5

In other F5 news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,300 shares of the business'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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,153 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,942,545.42. The trade was a 1.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 1,347 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was 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 approximately $6,411,101.27. The trade was a 6.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 10,744 shares of company stock worth $3,347,605. 0.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

F5 Stock Performance

Shares of FFIV traded down $5.26 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $313.14. The company had a trading volume of 593,461 shares, compared to its average volume of 462,904. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $306.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $286.64. F5, Inc. has a 1-year low of $197.34 and a 1-year high of $334.00. The company has a market capitalization of $17.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.08.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 the consensus estimate 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 last year, the company earned $3.36 EPS. F5 has set its FY 2025 guidance at 15.240-15.380 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 3.870-3.990 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that F5, Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.