Securian Asset Management Inc. Trims Stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Securian Asset Management Inc. lowered its holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,813 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 368 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in F5 were worth $682,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FFIV. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 61,801 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $11,061,000 after buying an additional 5,577 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 268,450.0% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 5,371 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $865,000 after buying an additional 5,369 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 133.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 10,530 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,697,000 after buying an additional 6,028 shares during the period. Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of F5 in the 3rd quarter valued at $438,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 164,967 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,526,000 after buying an additional 13,711 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on F5 from $204.00 to $182.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on F5 from $156.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Barclays cut their price target on F5 from $206.00 to $189.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $167.00 price target (down previously from $187.00) on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, F5 currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $185.10.

F5 Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $173.22 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $181.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $178.91. The stock has a market cap of $10.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.14. F5, Inc. has a 1 year low of $141.64 and a 1 year high of $199.49.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The network technology company reported $2.91 earnings per share (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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.70 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that F5, Inc. will post 9.64 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at F5

In other news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.53, for a total transaction of $142,568.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,597,385.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.53, for a total value of $142,568.03. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,597,385.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.12, for a total value of $94,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,012,124.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,151 shares of company stock valued at $2,047,453. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.