A10 Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ATEN) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

A10 Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ATEN) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,470,000 shares, a growth of 76.1% from the February 28th total of 1,970,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,070,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days. Currently, 4.8% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On A10 Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in A10 Networks by 5.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,662,442 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $24,010,000 after buying an additional 89,175 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of A10 Networks by 234.1% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 152,238 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,198,000 after purchasing an additional 106,672 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in A10 Networks by 359.3% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 32,607 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $600,000 after buying an additional 25,508 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of A10 Networks by 11.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 389,088 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,618,000 after acquiring an additional 41,141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP purchased a new stake in A10 Networks during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,073,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.61% of the company’s stock.

A10 Networks Trading Down 3.0 %

A10 Networks stock traded down $0.52 during trading on Friday, hitting $16.75. The company had a trading volume of 857,285 shares, compared to its average volume of 813,647. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.39. A10 Networks has a 1-year low of $12.27 and a 1-year high of $21.90. The stock has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.00 and a beta of 1.17.

A10 Networks (NYSE:ATEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.03. A10 Networks had a return on equity of 23.44% and a net margin of 19.16%. As a group, analysts forecast that A10 Networks will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A10 Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. A10 Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on ATEN shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of A10 Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. BWS Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $24.00 price target on shares of A10 Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Craig Hallum boosted their target price on shares of A10 Networks from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th.

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.