Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Raises Position in F5, Inc. $FFIV

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR raised its holdings in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 19.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,449 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,559 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR’s holdings in F5 were worth $2,412,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in F5 by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,357,293 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,878,023,000 after buying an additional 114,533 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in F5 by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,226,326 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,042,716,000 after buying an additional 53,712 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in F5 by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,634,361 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $528,209,000 after buying an additional 18,806 shares during the period. UBS Group AG boosted its position in F5 by 141.2% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,023,869 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $261,353,000 after buying an additional 599,384 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in F5 by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,017,715 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $328,915,000 after buying an additional 25,052 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

F5 News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:

• Positive Sentiment: F5’s latest quarter beat expectations, with revenue and EPS coming in above estimates and management raising guidance for the next quarter and full year. That supports the view that growth and profitability remain intact. F5 (FFIV) Reports Q2 Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: FFIV is trading close to its 52-week high and well above its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, signaling strong momentum that may be drawing in traders and institutions. MarketBeat FFIV Quote
• Neutral Sentiment: Several insider sales were disclosed, including transactions by the CEO and an EVP, but at least some were made under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, which makes the signal less clear-cut for investors. CEO Form 4 (SEC)
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple insider sales across senior executives, including the CEO, CFO, and EVPs, may create some caution around the stock, even if the trades were largely pre-scheduled. F5 Insider Sells $322,330.00

F5 Trading Up 2.6%

Shares of FFIV opened at $354.03 on Friday. F5, Inc. has a twelve month low of $223.76 and a twelve month high of $354.52. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $297.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $274.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.04, a PEG ratio of 8.19 and a beta of 1.00.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The network technology company reported $3.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.47 by $0.43. F5 had a net margin of 21.96% and a return on equity of 21.50%. The business had revenue of $811.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $783.82 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.42 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. F5 has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.910-4.030 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 16.250-16.550 EPS. On average, analysts predict that F5, Inc. will post 12.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Edward Cooper Werner sold 599 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.33, for a total value of $193,075.67. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,420,185.98. This trade represents a 11.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 3,783 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.39, for a total transaction of $1,276,346.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 146,989 shares in the company, valued at $49,592,618.71. This trade represents a 2.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 24,688 shares of company stock worth $7,477,392. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of F5 from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of F5 from $345.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of F5 from $355.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of F5 in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of F5 from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $316.44.

About F5

F5 Inc (NASDAQ:FFIV) specializes in application services and delivery networking, helping organizations ensure the availability, performance and security of their applications. The company’s core offerings include advanced load balancing, traffic management and application security solutions designed to optimize user experiences and protect against threats such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and web application exploits.

At the heart of F5’s product portfolio is the BIG-IP platform, which provides a suite of software modules for local and global traffic management, secure web application firewalling and DNS service delivery.