Forsta AP Fonden Buys 1,600 Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Key Points

• Forsta AP Fonden has increased its stake in F5, Inc. by 5.1%, owning 33,100 shares valued at approximately $8.8 million after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares.
• Analysts have raised target prices for F5 shares, with Barclays increasing their target from $274.00 to $321.00 and Royal Bank of Canada from $314.00 to $326.00.
• F5 reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $4.16, exceeding estimates by $0.67, alongside a revenue of $780.37 million, reflecting a 12.2% increase year-over-year.

Forsta AP Fonden increased its stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 5.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 33,100 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden owned about 0.06% of F5 worth $8,814,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of F5 by 11.9% in the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 451 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $120,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of F5 by 134.1% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of F5 by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 2,098 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $528,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.66% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FFIV has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of F5 from $274.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of F5 in a research note on Monday, July 7th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of F5 from $314.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of F5 from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of F5 from $305.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, F5 currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $309.89.

F5 Stock Up 1.4%

FFIV stock opened at $321.77 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $298.24 and a 200 day moving average of $284.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.49 billion, a PE ratio of 28.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 1.03. F5, Inc. has a 52 week low of $188.31 and a 52 week high of $334.00.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. F5 had a net margin of 22.06% and a return on equity of 21.77%. The business had revenue of $780.37 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $750.64 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.36 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that F5, Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at F5

In related news, Director Elizabeth Buse sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.53, for a total value of $440,295.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,471,465.89. The trade was a 23.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was 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 directly owned 110,153 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,942,545.42. The trade was a 1.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,519 shares of company stock worth $2,520,097. 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.

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