A10 Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ATEN) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

A10 Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ATEN) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,660,000 shares, an increase of 7.8% from the November 30th total of 1,540,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 613,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days. Currently, 2.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Transactions at A10 Networks

In related news, EVP Karen S. Thomas sold 6,162 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.70, for a total value of $102,905.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $397,443.30. This trade represents a 20.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.81% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On A10 Networks

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Guidance Capital Inc. lifted its position in shares of A10 Networks by 2.0% during the third quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 36,355 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $530,000 after purchasing an additional 718 shares in the last quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P raised its position in A10 Networks by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 101,051 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,459,000 after purchasing an additional 770 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in A10 Networks by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 27,239 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $377,000 after buying an additional 776 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in A10 Networks by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 203,054 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,812,000 after buying an additional 804 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its stake in shares of A10 Networks by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 54,664 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $789,000 after buying an additional 814 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ATEN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Craig Hallum downgraded shares of A10 Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $16.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, November 8th. BWS Financial raised their price target on shares of A10 Networks from $17.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, StockNews.com raised A10 Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th.

A10 Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ATEN traded down $0.01 on Wednesday, hitting $18.40. The stock had a trading volume of 435,650 shares, compared to its average volume of 724,855. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $17.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.86. A10 Networks has a twelve month low of $12.27 and a twelve month high of $19.37. The company has a market capitalization of $1.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.46 and a beta of 1.16.

A10 Networks (NYSE:ATEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $66.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.78 million. A10 Networks had a net margin of 19.29% and a return on equity of 22.69%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.12 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that A10 Networks will post 0.6 EPS for the current year.

A10 Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. A10 Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.82%.

About A10 Networks

A10 Networks, Inc provides networking solutions in the Americas, Japan, rest of Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The company offers Thunder Application Delivery Controller that provides advanced server load balancing; Thunder Carrier Grade Networking, which provides standards-compliant address and protocol translation services between varying types of internet protocol addresses; Thunder Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Insight that decrypts SSL-encrypted traffic and forwards it to a third-party security device for deep packet inspection; and Thunder Convergent Firewall, which addresses multiple critical security capabilities in one package.