A10 Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ATEN) Short Interest Up 18.2% in May

A10 Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ATEN - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,440,000 shares, an increase of 18.2% from the April 30th total of 5,450,000 shares. Approximately 9.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,250,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.2 days.

A10 Networks Trading Up 2.6%

NYSE:ATEN traded up $0.47 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $18.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 788,353 shares, compared to its average volume of 867,496. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $16.63 and a 200-day moving average of $18.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.25 and a beta of 1.38. A10 Networks has a 52-week low of $12.27 and a 52-week high of $21.90.

A10 Networks (NYSE:ATEN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The communications equipment provider reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.01. A10 Networks had a net margin of 19.16% and a return on equity of 23.44%. The firm had revenue of $66.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.63 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.17 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that A10 Networks will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current year.

A10 Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. A10 Networks's payout ratio is 35.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on ATEN shares. BWS Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $24.00 target price on shares of A10 Networks in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James began coverage on A10 Networks in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of A10 Networks in a research note on Saturday, May 31st. Craig Hallum upgraded A10 Networks from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $20.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut A10 Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.00.

Insider Transactions at A10 Networks

In other A10 Networks news, General Counsel Robert Scott Weber sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the general counsel now directly owns 61,007 shares in the company, valued at $1,052,980.82. This represents a 3.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.15% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On A10 Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ATEN. Vestcor Inc acquired a new stake in shares of A10 Networks during the 1st quarter valued at $44,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of A10 Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $50,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in A10 Networks during the first quarter worth about $55,000. CWM LLC lifted its stake in A10 Networks by 45.6% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,644 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 1,454 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of A10 Networks by 79.1% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,096 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 2,251 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.61% of the company's stock.

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.