Sapient Capital LLC Invests $544,000 in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 3,042 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $544,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in FFIV. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 212,784 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its position in shares of F5 by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 748,118 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $120,552,000 after acquiring an additional 44,758 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of F5 by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 709,879 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $114,390,000 after buying an additional 43,704 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of F5 by 203.5% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 484,516 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $78,052,000 after purchasing an additional 324,886 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in F5 by 42.0% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 370,910 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $59,768,000 after buying an additional 109,666 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

F5 Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $168.00 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $186.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.11. F5, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $133.00 and a fifty-two week high of $199.49. The company has a market capitalization of $9.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.14.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $681.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. F5 had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.70 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that F5, Inc. will post 9.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FFIV. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on F5 from $156.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $167.00 price target (down previously from $187.00) on shares of F5 in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of F5 from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on F5 from $204.00 to $182.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on F5 from $186.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $185.10.

Insider Activity

In other F5 news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of the firm’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 transaction 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other F5 news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.02, for a total transaction of $1,203,328.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 123,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,173,653.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 11,052 shares of company stock worth $2,050,633. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.