Short Interest in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Drops By 12.5%

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 27th, there was short interest totaling 1,830,697 shares, a decrease of 12.5% from the February 12th total of 2,093,014 shares. Currently, 3.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 715,430 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days. Based on an average daily volume of 715,430 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days. Currently, 3.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

F5 Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $282.20 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.95 billion, a PE ratio of 23.34, a P/E/G ratio of 8.10 and a beta of 1.01. F5 has a twelve month low of $223.76 and a twelve month high of $346.00. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $275.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $279.24.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The network technology company reported $4.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.82. The company had revenue of $822.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $755.97 million. F5 had a net margin of 22.45% and a return on equity of 22.08%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.84 earnings per share. F5 has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 3.340-3.460 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 15.650-16.050 EPS. Analysts anticipate that F5 will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 688 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.05, for a total transaction of $190,610.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 26,329 shares in the company, valued at $7,294,449.45. The trade was a 2.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael L. Dreyer sold 3,067 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.41, for a total transaction of $866,151.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,309 shares in the company, valued at $369,674.69. This trade represents a 70.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 22,391 shares of company stock worth $6,121,487. 0.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of F5 by 166.5% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 62,906 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $16,750,000 after purchasing an additional 39,305 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of F5 by 1,281.4% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $257,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in F5 by 38.4% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 298,297 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $79,428,000 after purchasing an additional 82,835 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth bought a new position in F5 in the 1st quarter worth about $257,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in F5 by 288.1% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 163 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FFIV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of F5 from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of F5 from $325.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of F5 in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered F5 from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 28th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on F5 from $267.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $309.89.

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.