Northern Trust Corp Purchases 141,680 Shares of F5, Inc. $FFIV

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp has increased its holdings in F5, Inc. by 15.5%, now owning over 1 million shares valued at approximately $280.8 million.
• F5, Inc. reported earnings of $4.16 per share, exceeding estimates and showing a 12.2% year-over-year revenue increase to $780.37 million.
• Following recent transactions, insiders sold 12,544 shares valued at approximately $3.86 million, decreasing their overall ownership to 0.52% of the company's stock.

Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 15.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,054,701 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 141,680 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned 1.84% of F5 worth $280,835,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. increased its stake in F5 by 147.8% in the first quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 12,458 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $3,317,000 after acquiring an additional 7,430 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of F5 by 9.3% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 72,267 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $19,243,000 after buying an additional 6,162 shares during the last quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of F5 by 1.5% during the first quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 11,866 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,160,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Ethic Inc. grew its stake in shares of F5 by 64.3% during the first quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 9,803 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,633,000 after buying an additional 3,838 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Element Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of F5 during the first quarter worth $2,662,000. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at F5

In other news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 1,347 shares of F5 stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.73, for a total value of $417,206.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 20,699 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,411,101.27. This trade represents a 6.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Elizabeth Buse sold 1,500 shares of F5 stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.53, for a total value of $440,295.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,471,465.89. This trade represents a 23.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,544 shares of company stock worth $3,862,333. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

F5 Price Performance

Shares of F5 stock traded up $3.00 during trading on Friday, hitting $317.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 312,590 shares, compared to its average volume of 564,589. F5, Inc. has a 52 week low of $197.09 and a 52 week high of $334.00. The stock has a market cap of $18.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $303.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $286.54.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The network technology company reported $4.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.67. The company had revenue of $780.37 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $750.64 million. F5 had a net margin of 22.06% and a return on equity of 21.77%. F5's revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.36 earnings per share. F5 has set its FY 2025 guidance at 15.240-15.380 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 3.870-3.990 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that F5, Inc. will post 11.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted 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. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of F5 from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of F5 from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Barclays boosted 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $309.89.

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.