Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Decreases Holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Key Points

• Westfield Capital Management Co. LP has significantly reduced its stake in F5, Inc. by 94.8% during the first quarter, now holding only 14,770 shares valued at approximately $3.93 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Golden State Wealth Management and MassMutual Private Wealth, have increased their stakes in F5, showing varied interest from different market players.
• F5 reported a 12.2% increase in revenue year-over-year and exceeded earnings expectations with an EPS of $4.16 for its latest quarterly results.

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP reduced its stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 94.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,770 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 271,395 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP's holdings in F5 were worth $3,933,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of F5 by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 954 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $240,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC raised its position in F5 by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 685 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $172,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management lifted its stake in F5 by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 451 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $120,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of F5 by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 2,098 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $528,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in shares of F5 by 31.4% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 293 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

F5 Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of FFIV stock traded down $4.00 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $317.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 469,157 shares, compared to its average volume of 569,643. The stock has a market cap of $18.22 billion, a PE ratio of 27.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 1.03. F5, Inc. has a 12-month low of $186.19 and a 12-month high of $334.00. The company has a 50 day moving average of $297.44 and a 200 day moving average of $283.95.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The network technology company reported $4.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.67. The company had revenue of $780.37 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.36 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that F5, Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FFIV has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on F5 from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on F5 from $314.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays raised their target price on shares of F5 from $274.00 to $321.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wolfe Research started coverage on F5 in a research note on Monday, July 7th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of F5 from $304.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $309.89.

Insider Activity

In other F5 news, Director Michael L. Dreyer sold 1,800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.96, for a total value of $514,728.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 4,376 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,251,360.96. The trade was a 29.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,272 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.69, for a total transaction of $364,669.68. Following the sale, the director directly owned 9,919 shares in the company, valued at $2,843,678.11. The trade was a 11.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,519 shares of company stock valued at $2,520,097 over the last 90 days. Company 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.