National Bank of Canada FI Acquires 16,748 Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Key Points

• National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in F5, Inc. by 61.6%, acquiring an additional 16,748 shares to hold a total of 43,918 shares valued at $11,694,000.
• F5 reported $4.16 earnings per share for the most recent quarter, surpassing analysts' estimates of $3.49, with quarterly revenue up 12.2% year-over-year.
• Institutional investors currently own 90.66% of F5's stock, indicating strong interest from large financial entities, while insider sales occurred, including a sale by CEO Francois Locoh-Donou.

National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 61.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,918 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 16,748 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI owned 0.08% of F5 worth $11,694,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of F5 by 134.1% in the first quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 103 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of F5 by 275.0% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 105 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of F5 in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of F5 in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in shares of F5 by 31.4% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 293 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

F5 Trading Down 1.1%

FFIV opened at $318.11 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $18.28 billion, a PE ratio of 28.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 1.03. F5, Inc. has a 1 year low of $188.51 and a 1 year high of $334.00. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $298.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $284.80.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The network technology company reported $4.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.67. The business had revenue of $780.37 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $750.64 million. F5 had a return on equity of 21.77% and a net margin of 22.06%. F5's quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.36 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that F5, Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on FFIV shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of F5 from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. 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 report on Thursday, July 17th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on F5 from $304.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on F5 from $305.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on F5 in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, F5 presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $309.89.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In related news, 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 owned 110,153 shares of the company's stock, valued at $33,942,545.42. The trade was a 1.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,272 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.69, for a total value of $364,669.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 9,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,843,678.11. This represents a 11.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,519 shares of company stock valued at $2,520,097 in the last quarter. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.