Oak Thistle LLC Buys New Stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,345 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $255,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FFIV. Lyrical Asset Management LP increased its position in F5 by 38.3% in the 4th quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 1,145,302 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $204,986,000 after acquiring an additional 317,263 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in F5 in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,937,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in F5 by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,812,095 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $292,001,000 after acquiring an additional 212,784 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of F5 by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,435,868 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,330,872,000 after purchasing an additional 131,341 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Asset Management Holding S.A. increased its position in shares of F5 by 72.6% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Asset Management Holding S.A. now owns 298,612 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $53,446,000 after purchasing an additional 125,635 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

F5 Price Performance

Shares of FFIV traded down $1.05 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $171.18. 370,890 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 493,812. The company has a market capitalization of $10.03 billion, a PE ratio of 20.50, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $170.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $179.42. F5, Inc. has a one year low of $142.16 and a one year high of $199.49.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The network technology company reported $2.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $681.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.47 million. F5 had a return on equity of 21.41% and a net margin of 17.91%. F5’s revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.70 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that F5, Inc. will post 9.64 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at F5

In other news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.85, for a total value of $273,832.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 121,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,002,118.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.81, for a total transaction of $89,405.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,290 shares in the company, valued at $5,594,964.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.85, for a total value of $273,832.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 121,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,002,118.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,766 shares of company stock valued at $2,016,700 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FFIV has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $167.00 price target (down from $187.00) on shares of F5 in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of F5 in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on F5 from $204.00 to $182.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on F5 from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on F5 from $206.00 to $189.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, F5 presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $185.10.

F5 Company 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.