Sovereign s Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Sovereign s Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 22,261 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,461,000. Arista Networks makes up approximately 1.6% of Sovereign s Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ANET. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 304.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,620,270,000 after buying an additional 72,311,318 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 330.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,371,848,000 after buying an additional 44,269,572 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 277.5% during the fourth quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,016,207,000 after buying an additional 20,059,303 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 311.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,665,829,000 after buying an additional 18,293,874 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 218.5% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,328,869,000 after buying an additional 14,454,822 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ANET opened at $96.31 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $120.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $80.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.20. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $59.43 and a 52 week high of $133.58.

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

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 92,641 shares in the company, valued at $8,697,137.08. This represents a 59.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.03, for a total value of $712,240.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 147,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,157,209.52. The trade was a 5.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 410,867 shares of company stock worth $37,056,669 in the last 90 days. 3.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on ANET. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $89.00 target price (up from $76.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group raised Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, KGI Securities lowered Arista Networks to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Five 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.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $107.14.

Arista Networks Company 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.