LSV Asset Management Lowers Stock Holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Key Points

• LSV Asset Management has decreased its holdings in F5, Inc. by 26.1%, owning about 75,061 shares valued at approximately $19,986,000.
• Despite LSV's reduction, significant institutional investors like Northern Trust Corp and GAMMA Investing LLC have increased their positions in F5 during recent quarters.
• F5, Inc. recently reported a quarterly EPS of $4.16, surpassing analyst expectations and showing a 12.2% revenue increase year-over-year.

LSV Asset Management cut its position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 26.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 75,061 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 26,449 shares during the quarter. LSV Asset Management owned approximately 0.13% of F5 worth $19,986,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in F5 by 275.0% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 105 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of F5 during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of F5 during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in F5 in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position 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 worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on FFIV shares. Barclays set a $321.00 target price on F5 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on F5 from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of F5 in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on F5 from $304.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on F5 from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, F5 currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $309.89.

F5 Price Performance

FFIV stock traded down $2.22 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $318.78. The stock had a trading volume of 826,669 shares, compared to its average volume of 550,884. F5, Inc. has a twelve month low of $185.74 and a twelve month high of $334.00. The company's 50-day moving average price is $295.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $283.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.09, a PEG ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 1.03.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The network technology company reported $4.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.67. F5 had a net margin of 22.06% and a return on equity of 21.77%. The firm had revenue of $780.37 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.64 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.36 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that F5, Inc. will post 11.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at F5

In other news, Director Elizabeth Buse sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.53, for a total transaction of $440,295.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,172 shares of company stock worth $2,102,891 over the last three months. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

F5 Company 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.