SG Americas Securities LLC Boosts Holdings in F5, Inc. $FFIV

Key Points

• SG Americas Securities LLC increased its F5 stake by 233% in the first quarter, adding 82,620 shares to bring its total to 118,072 shares worth about $34.2 million.
• F5 reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $3.90 versus estimates of $3.47 and revenue of $811.7 million, up 11% from a year earlier.
• Several analysts remain constructive on the stock: price targets have been raised by firms including Morgan Stanley, RBC, Evercore, and Piper Sandler, though the overall consensus rating is still Hold with an average target of $382.67.

SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 233.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 118,072 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 82,620 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC owned approximately 0.21% of F5 worth $34,162,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FFIV. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. acquired a new stake in F5 during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of F5 by 109.8% in the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of F5 in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of F5 by 64.5% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 153 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Torren Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of F5 in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 1,328 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.58, for a total transaction of $439,010.24. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 8,060 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,664,474.80. This trade represents a 14.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 6,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.19, for a total value of $2,171,178.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 20,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,295,158.08. The trade was a 22.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 22,579 shares of company stock worth $7,836,860. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

F5 Trading Down 0.4%

FFIV opened at $389.53 on Wednesday. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $361.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $305.24. F5, Inc. has a 12-month low of $223.76 and a 12-month high of $411.52. The firm has a market cap of $21.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.95, a PEG ratio of 4.59 and a beta of 1.04.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The network technology company reported $3.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.43. F5 had a net margin of 21.96% and a return on equity of 21.50%. The company had revenue of $811.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $783.82 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.42 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. F5 has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.910-4.030 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 16.250-16.550 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that F5, Inc. will post 12.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FFIV has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on F5 from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on F5 from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of F5 in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Evercore upgraded F5 from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $475.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on F5 from $356.00 to $423.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $382.67.

F5 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.

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