A10 Networks (NYSE:ATEN) Sees Large Volume Increase – Time to Buy?

A10 Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ATEN) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Friday . Approximately 1,807,382 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 149% from the previous session’s volume of 724,788 shares.The stock last traded at $16.61 and had previously closed at $16.38.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised A10 Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. BWS Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 target price on shares of A10 Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Craig Hallum boosted their price objective on shares of A10 Networks from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th.

A10 Networks Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $19.72 and a 200-day moving average of $17.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.13 and a beta of 1.17.

A10 Networks (NYSE:ATEN) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 expect that A10 Networks, Inc. will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current year.

A10 Networks Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On A10 Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ATEN. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in A10 Networks by 364.8% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 683,711 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $12,580,000 after acquiring an additional 536,600 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of A10 Networks by 350.4% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 685,720 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $12,618,000 after purchasing an additional 533,482 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of A10 Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $7,202,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in A10 Networks by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,479,989 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $45,632,000 after purchasing an additional 249,145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in A10 Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $4,236,000. 98.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.