Meritage Portfolio Management Boosts Stock Position in A10 Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ATEN)

Meritage Portfolio Management lifted its position in A10 Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ATEN) by 12.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 37,403 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,140 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in A10 Networks were worth $688,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in A10 Networks by 3,389.8% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 2,059 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in A10 Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $43,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of A10 Networks by 43.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,456 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 744 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its stake in shares of A10 Networks by 95.4% in the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 5,657 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 2,762 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of A10 Networks by 79.1% in the fourth 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 during the period. 98.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Karen S. Thomas sold 6,162 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.70, for a total value of $102,905.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,799 shares in the company, valued at $397,443.30. This trade represents a 20.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 5.82% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

A10 Networks Price Performance

ATEN opened at $20.82 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $18.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.76. A10 Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $12.27 and a 1 year high of $20.89. The stock has a market cap of $1.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.07 and a beta of 1.14.

A10 Networks (NYSE:ATEN) last issued 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 net margin of 19.29% and a return on equity of 22.69%. Equities analysts expect that A10 Networks, Inc. will post 0.6 EPS for the current year.

A10 Networks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. A10 Networks’s payout ratio is 35.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on ATEN. Craig Hallum upped their price target on shares of A10 Networks from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. BWS Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective on shares of A10 Networks in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised A10 Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th.

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.