Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Buys New Stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 13,975 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $3,514,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FFIV. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in F5 by 1,681.1% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 285,639 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $62,898,000 after purchasing an additional 269,602 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of F5 by 3.6% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 5,489,388 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,208,763,000 after acquiring an additional 191,020 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of F5 in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,090,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of F5 by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,573,995 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $345,560,000 after purchasing an additional 117,080 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in F5 by 24.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 409,130 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $90,090,000 after purchasing an additional 81,005 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at F5

In other F5 news, insider Lyra Amber Schramm sold 253 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.26, for a total transaction of $75,206.78. Following the sale, the insider now owns 200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,452. This trade represents a 55.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.06, for a total transaction of $1,969,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 151,247 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,836,915.82. The trade was a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,574 shares of company stock worth $3,455,057 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

FFIV has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $295.00.

F5 Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV traded down $5.48 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $304.60. 415,888 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 622,660. F5, Inc. has a one year low of $159.01 and a one year high of $313.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $274.95 and a 200 day moving average of $239.96. The company has a market cap of $17.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, October 28th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the network technology company to purchase up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

F5 Profile

F5, Inc provides multi-cloud application security and delivery solutions in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific region. The company's distributed cloud services enable its customers to deploy, secure, and operate applications in any architecture, from on-premises to the public cloud.