Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,259 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in F5 were worth $941,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in F5 in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in F5 by 56.4% in the fourth quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 258 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its position in F5 by 36.1% in the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 279 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in F5 in the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Headinvest LLC acquired a new position in F5 in the third quarter valued at about $65,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

F5 Stock Performance

FFIV stock opened at $182.35 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $187.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $176.04. F5, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $129.93 and a fifty-two week high of $199.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.71, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.11.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The network technology company reported $3.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.04 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $693.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $684.77 million. F5 had a net margin of 16.43% and a return on equity of 20.81%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.65 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that F5, Inc. will post 9.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on FFIV shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of F5 from $156.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of F5 in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $204.00 price target on shares of F5 in a research report on Friday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of F5 from $197.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of F5 from $170.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $192.22.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In other F5 news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.06, for a total value of $155,784.06. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,008 shares in the company, valued at $2,747,364.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.81, for a total transaction of $89,405.00. Following the transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.06, for a total transaction of $155,784.06. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,008 shares in the company, valued at $2,747,364.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,201 shares of company stock worth $1,908,065 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.