Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC Purchases 191,020 Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its stake in F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) by 3.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,489,388 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 191,020 shares during the period. F5 comprises approximately 4.0% of Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC owned 9.42% of F5 worth $1,208,763,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in FFIV. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of F5 by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 80,292 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $15,224,000 after acquiring an additional 811 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in F5 by 195.1% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 21,994 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,170,000 after acquiring an additional 14,541 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in F5 by 130.6% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 10,019 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,899,000 after acquiring an additional 5,674 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC purchased a new position in F5 during the 1st quarter worth $299,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in F5 by 55.6% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 57,361 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $10,775,000 after acquiring an additional 20,486 shares during the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

F5 Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $250.35 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.68 billion, a PE ratio of 26.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.05. F5, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $159.01 and a fifty-two week high of $252.30. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $229.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $198.92.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.45 by $0.22. F5 had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 20.13%. The company had revenue of $747.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.76 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that F5, Inc. will post 11.01 EPS for the current year.

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

Insider Activity at F5

In related news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.50, for a total value of $130,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,617,437.50. The trade was a 1.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $218.26, for a total value of $316,477.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,122 shares in the company, valued at $26,436,087.72. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,475 shares of company stock worth $977,039. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on FFIV shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $233.56.

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.