Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Boosts Stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Key Points

• The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board increased its stake in F5, Inc. by 71.0% during the first quarter, bringing its total holdings to 6,670 shares valued at approximately $1.78 million.
• F5 achieved earnings of $4.16 per share for the last quarter, surpassing the consensus estimate of $3.49, with revenue of $780.37 million, exceeding expectations.
• Currently, F5 has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $309.89 from analysts, with a range of ratings reflecting mixed sentiments from the investment community.

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 71.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,670 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,769 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board's holdings in F5 were worth $1,776,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in F5 in the first quarter valued at $469,000. Vestcor Inc raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 689.3% in the 1st quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 7,364 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,961,000 after buying an additional 6,431 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 275.0% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 105 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super purchased a new stake in shares of F5 in the 4th quarter valued at $5,856,000. Finally, Norden Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of F5 in the 1st quarter valued at $234,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.66% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FFIV has been the topic of several research analyst reports. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on F5 from $304.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target 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. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $314.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of F5 from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, F5 has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $309.89.

F5 Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FFIV opened at $317.23 on Friday. The stock's 50-day moving average is $297.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $283.95. The company has a market cap of $18.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 1.03. F5, Inc. has a 1-year low of $186.19 and a 1-year high of $334.00.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $780.37 million during 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%. The firm's revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.36 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that F5, Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 5,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,471,465.89. The trade was a 23.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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 transaction of $364,669.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 9,919 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,843,678.11. This trade represents a 11.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,519 shares of company stock valued at $2,520,097 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

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.

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