Otter Creek Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Otter Creek Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 12,872 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $3,237,000. F5 comprises 2.2% of Otter Creek Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 3.6% in 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 buying an additional 191,020 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of F5 by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,187,222 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $701,825,000 after purchasing an additional 16,663 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of F5 by 8.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,573,995 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $345,560,000 after purchasing an additional 117,080 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake 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 buying an additional 81,005 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its stake in F5 by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 377,387 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $83,101,000 after acquiring an additional 27,124 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Transactions at F5

In other F5 news, Director Marianne Budnik sold 728 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.45, for a total value of $221,639.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,770 shares in the company, valued at approximately $538,876.50. This trade represents a 29.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Scot Frazier Rogers sold 3,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.18, for a total value of $1,022,025.48. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,075 shares in the company, valued at $5,885,588.50. The trade was a 14.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 15,060 shares of company stock valued at $4,477,083. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

F5 Price Performance

Shares of FFIV stock traded up $1.46 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $292.43. 840,596 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 610,020. The stock's fifty day moving average is $279.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $244.69. F5, Inc. has a 52-week low of $159.01 and a 52-week high of $313.00. The stock has a market cap of $16.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.06.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of F5 from $285.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on F5 from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on 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 raised their price target on F5 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of F5 from $262.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $295.00.

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.