Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New $306,000 Investment in A10 Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ATEN)

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in A10 Networks, purchasing 18,700 shares valued at approximately $306,000 during the first quarter.
• Hedge funds and institutional investors own 98.61% of A10 Networks, highlighting strong institutional interest in the company.
• A10 Networks recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.06 per share, representing a 1.4% dividend yield.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in A10 Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ATEN - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 18,700 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $306,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ATEN. Vestcor Inc purchased a new position in A10 Networks during the first quarter valued at approximately $44,000. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of A10 Networks in the first quarter valued at approximately $517,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new position in shares of A10 Networks in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,013,000. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of A10 Networks by 1.8% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 45,488 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $743,000 after purchasing an additional 783 shares during the period. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its position in A10 Networks by 166.2% during the first quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 85,318 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,394,000 after acquiring an additional 53,271 shares during the period. 98.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at A10 Networks

In other A10 Networks news, General Counsel Robert Scott Weber sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.26, for a total transaction of $43,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 61,007 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,052,980.82. This trade represents a 3.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of A10 Networks in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Craig Hallum upgraded shares of A10 Networks from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $20.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of A10 Networks from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of A10 Networks in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock. Finally, BTIG Research raised A10 Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $22.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $22.00.

A10 Networks Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of ATEN stock traded down $0.44 on Friday, reaching $17.40. The company had a trading volume of 959,920 shares, compared to its average volume of 916,562. The company has a 50-day moving average of $18.49 and a 200-day moving average of $18.17. A10 Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $12.45 and a 12 month high of $21.90. The company has a current ratio of 4.23, a quick ratio of 3.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a PE ratio of 25.59, a PEG ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.35.

A10 Networks (NYSE:ATEN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.01. A10 Networks had a return on equity of 25.46% and a net margin of 18.45%. The business had revenue of $69.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $65.99 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.18 EPS. A10 Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that A10 Networks, Inc. will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current year.

A10 Networks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. A10 Networks's dividend payout ratio is presently 35.29%.

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.