Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ Sells 12,300 Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Key Points

• Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB reduced its stake in F5, Inc. by 14.2%, owning 74,319 shares valued at approximately $19.79 million after selling 12,300 shares in the first quarter.
• F5's earnings per share (EPS) for the last quarter was reported at $3.42, surpassing analysts' expectations of $3.11, while its revenue amounted to $590.16 million, below the forecast of $719.91 million.
• Wall Street analysts currently have a consensus rating of "Hold" on F5 shares with an average target price set at $291.44.

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ trimmed its stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 14.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 74,319 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 12,300 shares during the quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ owned about 0.13% of F5 worth $19,789,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. 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 worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of F5 in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of F5 in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of F5 in the 4th quarter worth approximately $60,000. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 31.4% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 293 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company's stock.

F5 Price Performance

FFIV traded down $1.31 on Wednesday, reaching $297.93. 171,564 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 534,649. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $293.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $281.54. F5, Inc. has a 52-week low of $184.80 and a 52-week high of $313.00. The company has a market cap of $17.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.26, a PEG ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.00.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The network technology company reported $3.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.31. F5 had a net margin of 21.14% and a return on equity of 21.18%. The firm had revenue of $590.16 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $719.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.91 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that F5, Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on FFIV shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of F5 from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $304.00 target price (up from $269.00) on shares of F5 in a research report on Monday, July 14th. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of F5 in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of F5 from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $290.00 target price on shares of F5 in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $291.44.

Insider Activity

In other F5 news, Director Michael L. Dreyer sold 1,800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.96, for a total value of $514,728.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,376 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,251,360.96. The trade was a 29.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 1,347 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.03, for a total transaction of $362,383.41. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 20,660 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,558,159.80. This represents a 6.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,519 shares of company stock valued at $2,408,594 in the last three months. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.