Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Buys 1,162,519 Shares of F5, Inc. $FFIV

Key Points

• Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. dramatically increased its F5 stake in Q4, adding 1,162,519 shares and bringing its total holdings to 1,170,216 shares, worth about $298.7 million. The position now represents roughly 2.06% of F5.
• F5’s latest earnings report beat expectations, with EPS of $3.90 versus $3.47 expected and revenue of $811.7 million versus $783.8 million expected. The company also issued upbeat guidance for Q3 2026 and FY 2026.
• Analysts and insiders are sending mixed signals: several firms raised price targets or earnings estimates, but company insiders have been selling shares, including CEO Francois Locoh-Donou. Despite the mixed views, Wall Street’s consensus rating remains Hold.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 15,103.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,170,216 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,162,519 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. owned about 2.06% of F5 worth $298,709,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of FFIV. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of F5 during the third quarter valued at $37,000. Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of F5 during the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of F5 by 288.1% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 163 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of F5 during the third quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new stake in shares of F5 during the second quarter valued at $50,000. 90.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about F5

Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research increased its FY2026 EPS estimate for F5 to $12.80 from $12.33, above the broader consensus of $12.71, signaling improving near-term earnings expectations.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts also lifted FY2027 EPS to $13.02 from $12.67 and FY2028 EPS to $13.48 from $13.34, reinforcing the view that F5’s earnings trajectory remains strong.
• Positive Sentiment: Several quarterly estimates were nudged higher, including Q1 2027, Q3 2027, Q4 2027, Q1 2028, and Q2 2028, which may add confidence in the company’s longer-term outlook.
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks lowered its Q2 2027 EPS estimate slightly to $2.92 from $2.96 and trimmed Q4 2026 to $3.22 from $3.28, though these minor cuts do not offset the broader upward revisions.
• Neutral Sentiment: F5 recently reported solid quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue expectations, which continues to provide a supportive backdrop for the stock. Article Title

F5 Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $362.58 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.74, a PEG ratio of 8.38 and a beta of 1.00. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $306.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $276.69. F5, Inc. has a 52-week low of $223.76 and a 52-week high of $365.83.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The network technology company reported $3.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.43. The business had revenue of $811.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $783.82 million. F5 had a return on equity of 21.50% and a net margin of 21.96%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.42 earnings per share. 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 analysts forecast that F5, Inc. will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 3,783 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.39, for a total value of $1,276,346.37. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 146,989 shares of the company's stock, valued at $49,592,618.71. This trade represents a 2.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,770 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.25, for a total value of $487,192.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,840 shares in the company, valued at $1,882,710. This trade represents a 20.56% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 29,328 shares of company stock valued at $9,319,571. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings raised F5 from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of F5 in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on F5 from $345.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of F5 in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on F5 from $355.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $316.44.

F5 Company 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding FFIV? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.