A10 Networks (NYSE:ATEN) Shares Gap Up - Should You Buy?

A10 Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ATEN - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $18.34, but opened at $19.08. A10 Networks shares last traded at $19.25, with a volume of 184,033 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on ATEN. 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 note on Friday, May 2nd. BWS Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $24.00 price objective on shares of A10 Networks in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of A10 Networks in a research note on Saturday, June 14th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on A10 Networks in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut A10 Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.00.

A10 Networks Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 4.05, a quick ratio of 3.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The company's 50-day moving average is $17.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.42 and a beta of 1.38.

A10 Networks (NYSE:ATEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The communications equipment provider reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $66.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $63.63 million. A10 Networks had a return on equity of 24.23% and a net margin of 18.70%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.17 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that A10 Networks, Inc. will post 0.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A10 Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were paid a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. A10 Networks's payout ratio is 35.82%.

Insider Activity at A10 Networks

In other news, General Counsel Robert Scott Weber sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.26, for a total value of $43,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 61,007 shares in the company, valued at $1,052,980.82. This trade represents a 3.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.15% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On A10 Networks

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ATEN. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in A10 Networks during the first quarter valued at about $295,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its position in shares of A10 Networks by 363.8% during the 4th quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 119,877 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $2,206,000 after purchasing an additional 94,032 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of A10 Networks by 1,938.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 50,066 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $818,000 after purchasing an additional 47,610 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of A10 Networks by 43.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 181,956 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $3,348,000 after purchasing an additional 55,134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in A10 Networks by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 404,266 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $7,438,000 after purchasing an additional 15,178 shares during the last quarter. 98.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

A10 Networks Company Profile

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.