Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Sells 161 Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 2.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,962 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 161 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in F5 were worth $1,130,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC raised its holdings in F5 by 0.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 27,546 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,439,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC bought a new stake in shares of F5 in the 3rd quarter valued at $221,000. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in F5 by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 27,226 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,387,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in F5 by 2.0% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 340,615 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $54,887,000 after acquiring an additional 6,612 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wahed Invest LLC grew its stake in F5 by 12.2% in the third quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 959 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $155,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

F5 Stock Performance

FFIV opened at $172.23 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $170.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $179.46. F5, Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.16 and a 52-week high of $199.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.09 billion, a PE ratio of 20.63, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.09.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FFIV. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on F5 from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of F5 from $197.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $167.00 price objective (down from $187.00) on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of F5 in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on F5 from $204.00 to $182.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $185.10.

Insider Transactions at F5

In related news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owns 15,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,597,385.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 value of $89,405.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 31,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,594,964.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.53, for a total transaction of $142,568.03. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,597,385.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,766 shares of company stock worth $2,016,700 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.