Natixis Has $1.30 Million Stock Position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Natixis boosted its holdings in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 5.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,852 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 377 shares during the period. Natixis’ holdings in F5 were worth $1,299,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lyrical Asset Management LP grew its stake in F5 by 38.3% in the fourth quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 1,145,302 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $204,986,000 after purchasing an additional 317,263 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of F5 during the 4th quarter worth about $45,937,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 worth $1,330,872,000 after acquiring an additional 131,341 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Asset Management Holding S.A. boosted its stake in 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. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in F5 by 14.2% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 625,734 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $118,607,000 after buying an additional 77,611 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.53, for a total value of $142,568.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,597,385.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.11, for a total value of $243,759.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 124,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,906,495.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,766 shares of company stock worth $1,990,890 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on FFIV. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of F5 in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of F5 from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price 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. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $167.00 target price (down from $187.00) on shares of F5 in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on F5 from $197.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $185.10.

F5 Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV traded up $3.29 during trading on Thursday, reaching $173.73. The stock had a trading volume of 690,883 shares, compared to its average volume of 480,464. F5, Inc. has a 52 week low of $145.45 and a 52 week high of $199.49. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $171.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $179.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.18 billion, a PE ratio of 20.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.08.

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

F5 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.