Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in A10 Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ATEN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in A10 Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ATEN) by 11.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 389,088 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 41,141 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.52% of A10 Networks worth $5,618,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in A10 Networks by 15.6% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 46,062 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $638,000 after buying an additional 6,217 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in A10 Networks during the second quarter valued at $1,201,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in A10 Networks in the second quarter valued at about $516,000. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of A10 Networks by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 14,226 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $195,000 after purchasing an additional 984 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of A10 Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $9,562,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at A10 Networks

In other A10 Networks news, EVP Karen S. Thomas sold 6,162 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.70, for a total value of $102,905.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,799 shares in the company, valued at $397,443.30. This represents a 20.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 5.82% of the company’s stock.

A10 Networks Stock Performance

ATEN stock opened at $16.48 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a PE ratio of 24.60 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $14.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.22. A10 Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $11.99 and a one year high of $16.92.

A10 Networks (NYSE:ATEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.02. A10 Networks had a return on equity of 22.69% and a net margin of 19.29%. The business had revenue of $66.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.78 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.12 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that A10 Networks, Inc. will post 0.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A10 Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. A10 Networks’s payout ratio is 35.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of A10 Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Craig Hallum cut A10 Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $16.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, BWS Financial boosted their price target on A10 Networks from $17.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th.

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.