A10 Networks (NYSE:ATEN) Stock Price Up 18.3% on Better-Than-Expected Earnings

A10 Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ATEN) shares shot up 18.3% on Wednesday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock traded as high as $15.53 and last traded at $15.45. 216,443 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 640,341 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.06.

The communications equipment provider reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $60.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.43 million. A10 Networks had a net margin of 15.88% and a return on equity of 21.67%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.09 EPS.

A10 Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. A10 Networks’s payout ratio is 45.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on ATEN shares. Craig Hallum lifted their target price on shares of A10 Networks from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. BWS Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 price objective on shares of A10 Networks in a report on Wednesday.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Dhrupad Trivedi sold 60,606 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.27, for a total transaction of $804,241.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 495,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,579,451.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Brian Becker sold 2,047 shares of A10 Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.06, for a total value of $26,733.82. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 49,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $643,231.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dhrupad Trivedi sold 60,606 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.27, for a total value of $804,241.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 495,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,579,451.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 121,146 shares of company stock valued at $1,598,166. Insiders own 5.82% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of A10 Networks by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,965,847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $104,697,000 after acquiring an additional 185,362 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management lifted its stake in shares of A10 Networks by 30.3% during the fourth quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 32,220 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $424,000 after purchasing an additional 7,484 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of A10 Networks by 37.4% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,486,953 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $32,753,000 after buying an additional 676,509 shares during the period. Verity Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of A10 Networks by 1.7% in the third quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 91,666 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,378,000 after buying an additional 1,515 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its holdings in shares of A10 Networks by 38.2% during the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 158,383 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,380,000 after buying an additional 43,781 shares during the period. 98.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

A10 Networks Trading Up 17.7 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.01 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $13.55 and a 200 day moving average of $12.94.

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.