Bank of Nova Scotia Grows Holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV – Get Rating) by 10.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,459 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 515 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in F5 were worth $783,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in FFIV. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in F5 by 23.9% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 16,515 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,451,000 after purchasing an additional 3,190 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in F5 by 140.0% in the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,503 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $941,000 after buying an additional 2,627 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in F5 by 1.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 394,157 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $82,367,000 after acquiring an additional 5,214 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of F5 by 16.2% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 67,717 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $14,067,000 after acquiring an additional 9,454 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC bought a new stake in shares of F5 in the 1st quarter worth approximately $327,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.34% of the company’s stock.

F5 Stock Down 0.3 %

FFIV opened at $144.27 on Wednesday. F5, Inc. has a 52 week low of $127.05 and a 52 week high of $174.38. The stock has a market cap of $8.73 billion, a PE ratio of 26.72, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a 50 day moving average of $139.69 and a 200-day moving average of $143.93.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 19th. The network technology company reported $2.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $703.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $699.18 million. F5 had a net margin of 11.74% and a return on equity of 16.56%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.30 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that F5, Inc. will post 7.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at F5

In other news, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 259 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.12, for a total transaction of $36,809.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,683 shares in the company, valued at $1,944,627.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 259 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.12, for a total value of $36,809.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,683 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,944,627.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 919 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.02, for a total value of $122,245.38. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,528,399.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,221 shares of company stock valued at $1,559,308 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on FFIV. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of F5 in a research report on Monday, March 6th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. KeyCorp dropped their target price on F5 from $182.00 to $179.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 20th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on F5 in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “strong-buy” rating on the stock. Cowen dropped their price objective on F5 from $187.00 to $177.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of F5 from $177.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $166.13.

F5 Company Profile

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F5, Inc engages development and provision of software defined application services. It offers the development, marketing and sale of application delivery networking products that optimize the security, performance, and availability of network applications, servers, and storage systems. The company was founded on February 26, 1996, and is headquartered in Seattle, WA.