Hsbc Holdings PLC Grows Position in F5, Inc. $FFIV

Key Points

• HSBC Holdings PLC boosted its stake in F5 by 24.8% in the fourth quarter, ending with 581,855 shares worth about $148.6 million.
• F5 reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting $3.90 EPS versus $3.47 expected and revenue of $811.7 million, up 11% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment remains generally positive, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $382.67, though recent insider sales totaled 22,579 shares over the last three months.

Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 24.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 581,855 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 115,639 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned 1.03% of F5 worth $148,580,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. acquired a new position in shares of F5 in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of F5 by 109.8% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new position in F5 in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 64.5% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 153 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of F5 by 288.1% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 163 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company's stock.

F5 Stock Performance

Shares of FFIV stock opened at $408.14 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $376.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $313.24. The stock has a market cap of $23.03 billion, a PE ratio of 33.48, a P/E/G ratio of 4.79 and a beta of 1.03. F5, Inc. has a 1 year low of $223.76 and a 1 year high of $427.54.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The network technology company reported $3.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.43. F5 had a net margin of 21.96% and a return on equity of 21.50%. The firm had revenue of $811.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $783.82 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.42 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. F5 has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.910-4.030 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 16.250-16.550 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that F5, Inc. will post 12.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of F5 from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of F5 from $356.00 to $423.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of F5 from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Zacks Research raised shares of F5 from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of F5 in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $382.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 6,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.19, for a total transaction of $2,171,178.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 20,832 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,295,158.08. This represents a 22.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Elizabeth Buse sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $399.35, for a total transaction of $399,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,947 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,975,584.45. This trade represents a 16.82% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 22,579 shares of company stock valued at $7,836,860 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.48% of the company's stock.

F5 Profile

F5 Inc NASDAQ: FFIV specializes in application services and delivery networking, helping organizations ensure the availability, performance and security of their applications. The company's core offerings include advanced load balancing, traffic management and application security solutions designed to optimize user experiences and protect against threats such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and web application exploits.

At the heart of F5's product portfolio is the BIG-IP platform, which provides a suite of software modules for local and global traffic management, secure web application firewalling and DNS service delivery.

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