Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 119,779 Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in F5, Inc. by 1.6%, owning 12.93% of the company with a worth of approximately $1.98 billion after selling 119,779 shares during the first quarter.
• Insider trading activity included Thomas Dean Fountain, EVP, selling 1,347 shares for over $417,000, and Elizabeth Buse, Director, selling 1,500 shares for around $440,000.
• F5, Inc. reported a 12.2% increase in quarterly revenue compared to the previous year, with earnings per share at $4.16, exceeding analysts' expectations of $3.49.

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 1.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,424,477 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 119,779 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 12.93% of F5 worth $1,976,915,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of F5 by 134.1% during the 1st quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 103 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of F5 by 275.0% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 105 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of F5 during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of F5 during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position 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 worth $78,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.66% of the company's stock.

F5 Stock Down 0.2%

NASDAQ FFIV traded down $0.68 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $325.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 492,209 shares, compared to its average volume of 550,714. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $299.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $285.09. The firm has a market cap of $18.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 1.03. F5, Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.94 and a 52 week high of $334.00.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

FFIV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley raised 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. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on F5 from $314.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on F5 from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on F5 from $304.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a "neutral" 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 given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, F5 currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $309.89.

Insider Transactions at F5

In other F5 news, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 5,297 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.24, for a total value of $1,706,905.28. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 23,591 shares in the company, valued at $7,601,963.84. This represents a 18.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 13,816 shares of company stock valued at $4,227,002. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

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.