F5 Slides as 2027 Margin Outlook and Growth Pace Temper Strong Q4 Results

F5 (FFIV) is down 17.8% today. Here is some analysis on what might have caused this price movement.

Analysis: The sell-off appears tied less to the just-reported quarter, which was strong, and more to investor disappointment with F5’s fiscal 2027 outlook. Management projected solid growth, but the guidance also pointed to lower gross margins and a slower pace of expansion than some investors likely wanted after a strong run in the shares.

Details:

F5 reported fiscal fourth-quarter revenue growth of 13% year over year, with product revenue up 23%, and it also authorized an additional $1.5 billion for share repurchases.

For fiscal 2027, F5 guided to revenue growth of 8% to 9% and non-GAAP earnings of $18.00 to $18.30 per share, which suggests continued growth but not a major acceleration from recent levels.

Management said fiscal 2027 non-GAAP gross margin should land around 80.5% to 82.5%, below the 84% level in the latest quarter, with higher memory and storage component costs weighing on profitability.

Another likely pressure point was a rating downgrade from a Wall Street analyst after the report, which may have reinforced concerns that valuation had already priced in much of the upside.

Sources:

F5, The Motley Fool, Investing.com

Disclaimer: This price movement analysis was generated with the help of AI. Please double-check the information provided for mistakes.

$FFIV Insider Trading Activity

$FFIV insiders have traded $FFIV stock on the open market 46 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 0 have been purchases and 46 have been sales.

Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $FFIV stock by insiders over the last 6 months:

FRANCOIS LOCOH-DONOU (President, CEO & Director) has made 0 purchases and 15 sales selling 7,565 shares for an estimated $2,836,212.
MICHAEL F MONTOYA (Chief Technology Ops Officer) has made 0 purchases and 7 sales selling 4,426 shares for an estimated $1,815,380.
NIKHIL RAMESH MEHTA has made 0 purchases and 6 sales selling 4,000 shares for an estimated $1,555,795.
EDWARD COOPER WERNER (Chief Financial Officer) has made 0 purchases and 3 sales selling 3,698 shares for an estimated $1,436,221.
KUNAL ANAND (Chief Technology Officer) has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 3,515 shares for an estimated $1,165,251.
THOMAS DEAN FOUNTAIN (EVP Global Services & Strategy) has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 2,536 shares for an estimated $939,883.
JOHN ANTHONY MADDISON (Chief Product Mkting Officer) has made 0 purchases and 3 sales selling 2,204 shares for an estimated $811,055.
CHAD MICHAEL WHALEN (EVP, Worldwide Sales) has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 1,407 shares for an estimated $517,148.
ANGELIQUE M OKEKE (EVP, General Counsel) has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 1,357 shares for an estimated $479,716.
ELIZABETH BUSE has made 0 purchases and 4 sales selling 1,000 shares for an estimated $399,348.

To track insider transactions, check out Quiver Quantitative's insider trading dashboard. You can access data on insider stock transactions through the Quiver Quantitative API insider transaction endpoint.

$FFIV Hedge Fund Activity

We have seen 477 institutional investors add shares of $FFIV stock to their portfolio, and 297 decrease their positions in their most recent quarter.

Here are some of the largest recent moves:

HOTCHKIS & WILEY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC removed 2,517,727 shares (-55.0%) from their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $1,047,273,722
JANE STREET GROUP, LLC added 868,406 shares (+5094.8%) to their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $361,222,159
JPMORGAN CHASE & CO added 698,405 shares (+inf%) to their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $290,508,543
JERICHO CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT L.P. removed 524,264 shares (-19.8%) from their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $218,072,853
AMERICAN CENTURY COMPANIES INC removed 521,351 shares (-66.4%) from their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $216,861,161
SIXTH STREET PARTNERS MANAGEMENT COMPANY, L.P. added 514,087 shares (+inf%) to their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $213,839,628
PICTET ASSET MANAGEMENT HOLDING SA added 374,612 shares (+1461.5%) to their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $155,823,607

To track hedge funds' stock portfolios, check out Quiver Quantitative's institutional holdings dashboard. You can access data on hedge funds moves and 13F filings through the Quiver Quantitative API 13F endpoint.

$FFIV Price Targets

Multiple analysts have issued price targets for $FFIV recently. We have seen 6 analysts offer price targets for $FFIV in the last 6 months, with a median target of $404.5.

Here are some recent targets:

Matthew Hedberg from RBC Capital set a target price of $450.0 on 06/09/2026
James Fish from Piper Sandler set a target price of $423.0 on 05/29/2026
Tim Long from Barclays set a target price of $386.0 on 05/29/2026
Tal Liani from B of A Securities set a target price of $300.0 on 05/26/2026
Meta Marshall from Morgan Stanley set a target price of $380.0 on 05/20/2026
Amit Daryanani from Evercore ISI Group set a target price of $475.0 on 05/18/2026

This article is not financial advice. See Quiver Quantitative's disclaimers for more information. Note that there may be inaccuracies due to mistakes in ticker-mapping, and other anomalies.