F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Short Interest Down 23.9% in January
by Amy Steele · The Cerbat GemF5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV – Get Free Report) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of January. As of January 30th, there was short interest totaling 2,312,144 shares, a decrease of 23.9% from the January 15th total of 3,037,580 shares. Approximately 4.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,438,938 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.6 days. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,438,938 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.6 days. Approximately 4.1% of the company’s stock are short sold.
F5 News Summary
Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research raised several near‑term and multi‑year EPS forecasts for F5 (including FY2026–FY2028 and certain quarterly tweaks), which supports upside to consensus earnings expectations and helped sentiment. Zacks estimates summary
- Positive Sentiment: Institutional buying reported in Q4 (notable positions added by Northwestern Mutual, Norges Bank, Deutsche Bank and UBS) signals strong fund conviction and may underpin the share price. Institutional ownership details
- Positive Sentiment: F5’s January quarter earlier this year beat EPS and revenue estimates and management set FY26 guidance above some expectations — a fundamental driver supporting the recent rally. Quarterly results and guidance
- Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest reporting for mid‑February shows anomalous zero values in some feeds (likely a reporting glitch); treat the strange numbers cautiously and rely on the January short‑interest snapshot instead.
- Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms have filed or are soliciting lead‑plaintiff claims in a securities class action alleging F5 misled investors about security issues in its BIG‑IP products (claims reference an alleged long‑term undetected intrusion). The Feb. 17 lead‑plaintiff deadline is driving a cluster of notices and heightening litigation risk and reputational uncertainty. Hagens Berman filing GlobeNewswire notice
- Negative Sentiment: Clustered insider selling disclosed Feb. 10 (including sales by the CTO and multiple EVPs) can spook investors even if sales are for diversification/liquidity — review the Form 4s for context. SEC Form 4
F5 Stock Performance
Shares of F5 stock traded up $11.91 on Friday, reaching $273.93. 586,474 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,047,024. The firm has a market cap of $15.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.66, a P/E/G ratio of 7.76 and a beta of 1.00. F5 has a 1-year low of $223.76 and a 1-year high of $346.00. The company’s 50-day moving average is $266.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $285.07.
F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 27th. The network technology company reported $4.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.82. The firm had revenue of $822.47 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $755.97 million. F5 had a return on equity of 22.08% and a net margin of 22.45%.The firm’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.84 EPS. F5 has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 3.340-3.460 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 15.650-16.050 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that F5 will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current year.
Insider Buying and Selling at F5
In other F5 news, EVP Angelique M. Okeke sold 386 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.32, for a total transaction of $107,431.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 1,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $521,571.68. This trade represents a 17.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Anthony Maddison sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.66, for a total transaction of $280,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 2,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $820,930.50. The trade was a 25.48% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 20,301 shares of company stock valued at $5,204,053. Corporate insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Trading of F5
Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake 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 during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of F5 by 1,281.4% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $257,000 after buying an additional 897 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in F5 by 38.4% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 298,297 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $79,428,000 after buying an additional 82,835 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new stake in F5 in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $257,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in F5 by 288.1% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 163 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
FFIV has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays lifted their price target on F5 from $267.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of F5 in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on F5 from $336.00 to $296.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on F5 from $325.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on F5 from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $309.89.
Read Our Latest Report on FFIV
F5 Company Profile
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.