📊 FFIV President Sells: Stock Down 5.3% This Week

# The Weekly Filing

Three executives at Keysight Technologies sold nearly $2.2 million on Thursday. None of them were following a pre-planned schedule. The stock dropped 4.8% by Friday's close. Two weeks earlier, the company filed an 8-K reporting the departure of directors and appointment of new officers. The timing of discretionary sales immediately following executive changes is rarely coincidental in the minds of shareholders, and KEYS now sits 12% below its 52-week high after beating estimates by 8.8% last quarter. CEO Satish Dhanasekaran led the selling with $983,530 across two separate transactions, followed by CFO Neil Dougherty at $596,740 and Secretary Jeffrey Li at $594,380. These were choices, not calendar obligations, and all three chose the same day to execute. The stock trades at 50.5 times earnings, well above the sector median, and whether that multiple holds through the next earnings report remains an open question. What's certain is that three executives who know the quarter's trajectory decided to sell before the market did.

The technology sector more broadly saw $83.4 million in insider selling this week, dwarfing the $9.9 million in buys. NVIDIA's Mark Stevens moved $17.3 million out the door. CrowdStrike insiders collectively sold $10.6 million, led by President Michael Sentonas at $8 million. Dell insiders executed $22.7 million in sales through various LLC structures. Seagate's CEO William Mosley sold $10 million, though the filing lacks entry price data to measure his immediate market impact. Hewlett Packard Enterprise saw $7.5 million in selling across three executives. The pattern spans semiconductors, cybersecurity, storage, and enterprise IT. Different business models, different growth profiles, one shared direction: out. The sector's 89% sell-side tilt was the highest of the week after consumer staples, where Walmart's Walton Family Holdings Trust alone accounted for $36.6 million in sales.

Against that tide stood one notable buyer. Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora purchased nearly $10 million of PANW on Thursday at $147.02. The stock closed the week exactly where he bought it, flat at $147.02. This wasn't a token gesture or a fractional position adjustment. Ten million dollars is a statement. Arora has been CEO since 2018 and the company trades at 48 times earnings with a 27% net margin. The last earnings report beat estimates by a comfortable margin, though the filing doesn't specify the percentage. His buy came the same week CrowdStrike insiders were heading the opposite direction, creating an interesting contrast between the two cybersecurity giants. Whether Arora sees something his peers don't or simply has a different risk tolerance, he was the only insider in the entire information technology sector willing to deploy eight figures this week.

F5 Networks insiders sold $1.3 million on Thursday, and the stock fell 5.3% by Friday. CEO Francois Locoh-Donou moved $1 million in a pre-planned transaction, his second sale this month. CFO Edward Werner sold $300,000, trimming 19% of his total position, also under a 10b5-1 plan. The company filed an 8-K on March 13 reporting governance changes, the same type of filing that appeared at Keysight two weeks before its discretionary selling spree. The difference here is that F5's sales were scheduled, not reactive. The stock sits 18% below its 52-week high, below its 20-day moving average but still above the 50-day, in neutral RSI territory at 48. Last quarter the company beat estimates by 21.9%, one of the larger positive surprises in enterprise software. Whether the scheduled selling reflects routine diversification or something more calculated won't be clear until the next earnings call. What's measurable now is that both F5 executives sold before a 5% decline, and both filed 8-K governance changes in the same week as Keysight.

The week's only other buyer of note was Interactive Brokers' Lori Conkling, who added 50 shares for $3,660 on Thursday. Pre-planned under a 10b5-1, the buy increased her position by 2% to 2,384 shares total. The stock dropped 6.5% by Friday, the worst post-trade performance of the week. IBKR trades at 30 times earnings with a 179% net margin, a profitability figure that stands out even in the financial sector. The company beat estimates by 11.1% last quarter. Whether Conkling's small programmatic buy preceded a temporary dip or the start of something larger, she was one of only six buyers across sixty total insider trades this week. The 90% sell-side tilt isn't unusual for late March, but the absence of meaningful buying in sectors sitting near 52-week highs suggests insiders aren't seeing discounts worth backing up the truck for yet.

Ross Stores saw four executives sell a combined $4.8 million on Thursday and Friday, all in pre-planned transactions. President of Merchandising Karen Fleming led at $1.5 million, followed by Group President Michael Hartshorn at $1.3 million, President Karen Sykes at $1.2 million, and President Stephen Brinkley at $884,429. The stock fell 2% across those two days, closing at $211.69. All four executed under 10b5-1 plans, making each individual sale unremarkable. The collective pattern of four senior executives reducing positions in the same 48-hour window is harder to dismiss as routine portfolio management. The company trades at a reasonable valuation relative to retail peers, and the coordinated selling doesn't necessarily signal concern. But when four different presidents simultaneously lighten their exposure, the market notices. Whether Ross reports strong comparable sales next quarter or disappoints, these four won't be holding quite as much equity when it happens.

The financial sector saw the week's largest single buy: Blackstone Holdings IV GP Management injected $50 million into BX. The trade lacks entry and exit price data, but the sheer dollar amount makes it the contrarian move of the week in a market where sellers outnumbered buyers nine to one. Meanwhile, Japan Post Holdings continued its steady exit from Aflac, executing four more sales totaling $5.5 million across the week. The Japanese insurance giant has now traded AFL twelve times in the past thirty days, a methodical unwinding of a position that shows no signs of reversing. Aflac shares barely moved, down 0.7% for the week, suggesting the market has absorbed this selling without panic. The contrast between Blackstone adding $50 million and Japan Post methodically exiting a smaller position illustrates two different philosophies: conviction buying versus scheduled liquidation.

We already know the answer for several of this week's sellers. Keysight's trio chose to sell, not following pre-set schedules. F5's executives were on autopilot, 10b5-1 plans executing regardless of near-term stock performance. The distinction matters when both stocks fell 5% within 48 hours of the trades. Discretionary sales before declines suggest information. Pre-planned sales before declines suggest coincidence or poor timing. The coming week brings earnings reports from several of these companies, and whether insiders who sold discretionary shares in late March timed an exit ahead of disappointing guidance will become clear soon enough. Monday's Daily Filing will track whether the technology sector's selling spree continues or whether this week marked a temporary peak in insider caution.