Weiss Ratings Downgrades A10 Networks (NYSE:ATEN) to Hold (C)

Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of A10 Networks (NYSE:ATEN - Free Report) from a buy (b-) rating to a hold (c) rating in a report published on Saturday,Weiss Ratings reports.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Raymond James initiated coverage on shares of A10 Networks in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Craig Hallum upgraded shares of A10 Networks from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $20.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of A10 Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, BWS Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $24.00 price target on shares of A10 Networks in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.00.

A10 Networks Price Performance

A10 Networks stock traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $17.92. The stock had a trading volume of 755,514 shares, compared to its average volume of 876,176. A10 Networks has a twelve month low of $12.27 and a twelve month high of $21.90. The firm has a market cap of $1.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.75 and a beta of 1.37. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $16.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.84.

A10 Networks (NYSE:ATEN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The communications equipment provider reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.01. A10 Networks had a return on equity of 23.44% and a net margin of 19.16%. The company had revenue of $66.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.63 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.17 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that A10 Networks will post 0.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A10 Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. A10 Networks's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.82%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On A10 Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of A10 Networks by 234.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 152,238 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $2,198,000 after buying an additional 106,672 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in A10 Networks by 3.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 63,664 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $937,000 after acquiring an additional 2,187 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of A10 Networks by 59.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 324,195 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $4,681,000 after purchasing an additional 120,342 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of A10 Networks by 43.5% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,456 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 744 shares during the period. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of A10 Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $247,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.61% of the company's stock.

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.