O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 97.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,916 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 2,424 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC's holdings in F5 were worth $1,236,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in shares of F5 by 23.2% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 121,012 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $30,553,000 after purchasing an additional 22,784 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of F5 by 598.3% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 425,275 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $106,944,000 after acquiring an additional 364,372 shares in the last quarter. Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in shares of F5 during the fourth quarter worth $318,000. DnB Asset Management AS increased its position in shares of F5 by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 16,812 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $4,228,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, denkapparat Operations GmbH acquired a new stake in shares of F5 in the fourth quarter valued at $223,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.66% of the company's stock.

F5 Stock Up 2.6 %

FFIV traded up $6.68 on Friday, reaching $261.68. The company had a trading volume of 600,746 shares, compared to its average volume of 576,534. F5, Inc. has a 1 year low of $159.01 and a 1 year high of $313.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.09 billion, a PE ratio of 26.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $278.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $257.87.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on FFIV. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on F5 from $310.00 to $269.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Barclays raised their target price on shares of F5 from $246.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective 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. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, F5 presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $285.78.

Insider Transactions at F5

In other news, Director Marianne Budnik sold 1,872 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.72, for a total transaction of $488,067.84. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $314,689.04. This trade represents a 60.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,300 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.37, for a total transaction of $344,981.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 148,647 shares in the company, valued at $39,446,454.39. The trade was a 0.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 18,232 shares of company stock worth $5,310,131. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

About F5

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.