Focus Partners Wealth Purchases 70,006 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Focus Partners Wealth raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 581.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 82,036 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 70,006 shares during the quarter. Focus Partners Wealth’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $9,107,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $242,000. GHE LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 319.0% during the 4th quarter. GHE LLC now owns 28,368 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,136,000 after purchasing an additional 21,597 shares during the period. Colonial River Investments LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 327.6% during the 4th quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC now owns 9,745 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,077,000 after purchasing an additional 7,466 shares during the period. Unified Investment Management purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $630,000. Finally, Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 257.6% in the 4th quarter. Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. now owns 76,950 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,505,000 after buying an additional 55,430 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Arista Networks Stock Up 5.3%

Shares of ANET opened at $97.24 on Wednesday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $59.43 and a 52-week high of $133.58. The company has a market cap of $122.13 billion, a PE ratio of 43.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. The business has a fifty day moving average of $79.29 and a 200 day moving average of $97.25.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.88, for a total transaction of $12,988,391.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,697,137.08. This represents a 59.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total transaction of $159,409.44. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 8,128 shares in the company, valued at $870,752.64. This trade represents a 15.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 412,355 shares of company stock valued at $37,216,079 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ANET shares. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, KGI Securities cut Arista Networks to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $107.14.

Arista Networks Profile

Arista Networks, Inc engages in the development, marketing, and sale of data-driven, client to cloud networking solutions for data center, campus, and routing environments in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. Its cloud networking solutions consist of Extensible Operating System (EOS), a publish-subscribe state-sharing networking operating system offered in combination with a set of network applications.