Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Reduces Position in F5, Inc. $FFIV

Key Points

• Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in F5, Inc. by 9.2% during the second quarter, now holding 68,289 shares valued at approximately $20 million.
• Several other institutional investors have adjusted their positions in F5, with Czech National Bank increasing its stake by 6% and Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosting theirs by 145.9%.
• F5's recent earnings report showed an EPS of $4.16, exceeding estimates, and the stock has an average price target of $309.89 across analyst ratings.

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lowered its position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 68,289 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 6,943 shares during the quarter. F5 comprises about 0.8% of Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. owned 0.12% of F5 worth $20,099,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in F5 by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 5,387,700 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,434,583,000 after acquiring an additional 312,415 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of F5 by 15.5% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,054,701 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $280,835,000 after purchasing an additional 141,680 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of F5 by 24.0% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 828,966 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $220,693,000 after purchasing an additional 160,708 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of F5 by 37.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 828,900 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $216,757,000 after purchasing an additional 226,231 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in F5 by 34,698.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 746,089 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $198,661,000 after buying an additional 743,945 shares during the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

F5 Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of FFIV stock traded down $3.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $328.69. The stock had a trading volume of 1,276,679 shares, compared to its average volume of 380,036. F5, Inc. has a 12-month low of $213.24 and a 12-month high of $337.39. The company has a market cap of $18.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $313.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $289.26.

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. F5 had a return on equity of 21.77% and a net margin of 22.06%.The business had revenue of $780.37 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $750.64 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.36 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. F5 has set its FY 2025 guidance at 15.240-15.380 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 3.870-3.990 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that F5, Inc. will post 11.2 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at F5

In other news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 1,347 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was 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 approximately $6,411,101.27. The trade was a 6.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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 value of $400,582.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,153 shares in the company, valued at $33,942,545.42. This trade represents a 1.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,945 shares of company stock worth $3,762,365 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FFIV has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target 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. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of F5 from $274.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of F5 from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of F5 from $304.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of F5 in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $309.89.

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.