William Blair Investment Management LLC Takes Position in F5, Inc. $FFIV

Key Points

• William Blair Investment Management acquired 586,271 F5 shares worth approximately $243.9 million, making F5 its 24th-largest holding and representing a 1.04% ownership stake. Institutional investors collectively own 90.66% of the company.
• F5 exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $4.73 in earnings per share versus the $4.00 consensus estimate and revenue of $865.1 million, up 10.9% year over year. Shares opened at $384.63, while the stock’s 52-week range is $223.76 to $435.00.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed, with five Buy, five Hold and one Sell rating and a consensus price target of $416.62. Meanwhile, F5 insiders sold 15,699 shares worth about $6.3 million over the past 90 days, mostly through pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans.

William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 586,271 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $243,865,000. F5 comprises approximately 0.7% of William Blair Investment Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned 1.04% of F5 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. purchased a new position in F5 in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in F5 by 109.8% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in F5 during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its holdings in F5 by 963.6% during the 1st quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 117 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in F5 by 113.8% during the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 124 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In related news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 1,208 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.63, for a total transaction of $500,873.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 8,060 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,341,917.80. This represents a 13.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Angelique M. Okeke sold 515 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $404.49, for a total value of $208,312.35. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,240 shares in the company, valued at $906,057.60. This trade represents a 18.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,699 shares of company stock worth $6,316,411. 0.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

F5 Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of F5 stock opened at $384.63 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $21.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.62, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.03. F5, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $223.76 and a fifty-two week high of $435.00. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $403.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $347.86.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The network technology company reported $4.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.00 by $0.73. F5 had a return on equity of 21.54% and a net margin of 21.95%.The company had revenue of $865.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $834.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.16 EPS. F5's quarterly revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. F5 has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 4.140-4.260 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.210-17.330 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that F5, Inc. will post 13.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FFIV has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of F5 in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Evercore upgraded shares of F5 from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $475.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of F5 from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of F5 from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of F5 from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, F5 presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $416.62.

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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