Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 114,533 Shares of F5, Inc. $FFIV

Key Points

• Vanguard increased its stake in F5 by 114,533 shares (a 1.6% rise) to 7,357,293 shares, representing roughly 12.95% ownership valued at $1.878 billion per its latest 13F filing.
• F5 beat Q2 expectations, reporting EPS of $3.90 versus a $3.44 consensus and revenue of $811.7M (+11% YoY), and raised FY26 guidance to $16.25–16.55 EPS with Q3 guidance of $3.910–4.030.
• The stock has rallied (up ~8%), multiple brokers lifted price targets (e.g., RBC to $375, JPMorgan to $365), but investors should note recent insider selling and analyst concerns about elevated stock‑based compensation and valuation.

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,357,293 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 114,533 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 12.95% of F5 worth $1,878,023,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of F5 during the 3rd quarter worth $37,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of F5 during the 3rd quarter worth $49,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its stake in shares of F5 by 2,128.6% during the 3rd quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 156 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of F5 by 288.1% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 163 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation National Association UT increased its stake in shares of F5 by 400.0% during the 3rd quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT now owns 165 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company's stock.

F5 Trading Up 8.0%

NASDAQ FFIV opened at $328.15 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $292.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $273.92. The company has a market cap of $18.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.14, a P/E/G ratio of 8.30 and a beta of 0.93. F5, Inc. has a 1 year low of $223.76 and a 1 year high of $346.00.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The network technology company reported $3.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.46. F5 had a net margin of 22.45% and a return on equity of 22.08%. The business had revenue of $811.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $782.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.42 EPS. F5's quarterly 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. Equities research analysts forecast that F5, Inc. will post 12.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at F5

In other F5 news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 3,755 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.53, for a total value of $1,064,655.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 150,323 shares of the company's stock, valued at $42,621,080.19. This represents a 2.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Michael L. Dreyer sold 3,067 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.41, for a total transaction of $866,151.47. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,309 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $369,674.69. This trade represents a 70.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 13,508 shares of company stock worth $3,792,053. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

F5 News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 beat and raised guidance — F5 reported EPS $3.90 (vs. consensus ~$3.44) and revenue ~$812M (+11% YoY), with product revenue up ~22%. Management raised FY26 non-GAAP EPS to $16.25–16.55 and issued Q3 EPS/revenue targets above Street consensus, signaling stronger profitability and cash flow. F5 Q2 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrade/price-target lift — JPMorgan raised its price target to $365 and maintained an Overweight rating, providing additional analyst-driven buy-side momentum. JPMorgan Price Target
• Positive Sentiment: Product & partner momentum — F5 announced a partnership with Sectigo to automate certificate lifecycle management across F5 ADSP, reducing operational risk for customers and enhancing the platform ecosystem. Sectigo Partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor engagement scheduled — F5 will host an Analyst & Investor Meeting on May 28, which can provide additional color on strategy, margin cadence and cloud transition progress. Investor Meeting
• Neutral Sentiment: Board add — Anand Eswaran joined the board, strengthening enterprise software and AI experience; a governance/strategy positive but longer‑term in impact. Board Appointment
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings materials available — Full earnings presentation and call transcript provide detail on product mix (systems/software/services), margin drivers and FY26 assumptions for those wanting to dig deeper. Earnings Presentation
• Negative Sentiment: Compensation and valuation cautions — Some analysts highlight elevated stock‑based compensation and rich multiples as reasons for caution, leading at least one analyst piece to rate the name a “hold” despite regulatory tailwinds in EMEA. SBC / Hold Analysis
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling & mixed fund flows — Recent disclosures show meaningful insider sales and some large institutional position changes, which may concern investors who prefer insider buys as confirmation. (Monitor filings for updates.)

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on FFIV. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of F5 from $345.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays increased their price target on shares of F5 from $283.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of F5 from $355.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of F5 from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of F5 in a report on Wednesday. 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 currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $316.44.

About F5

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.