B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Purchases 6,974 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 111.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,205 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 6,974 shares during the quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $1,460,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 334.1% in the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,272 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $141,000 after purchasing an additional 979 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 321.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,806 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $863,000 after purchasing an additional 5,955 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 275.6% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,799 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $199,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares in the last quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 202.7% in the 4th quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 5,772 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $638,000 after purchasing an additional 3,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 42.0% in the 4th quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,950 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $216,000 after purchasing an additional 577 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of ANET stock opened at $92.50 on Wednesday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $59.43 and a one year high of $133.58. The company’s 50-day moving average is $81.73 and its 200 day moving average is $96.81. The company has a market capitalization of $116.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS 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 company had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.50 EPS. Arista Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on ANET shares. KGI Securities lowered shares of Arista Networks to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group raised shares of 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. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.14.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.55, for a total transaction of $620,400.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 139,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,840,249.20. This trade represents a 5.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,492 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.49, for a total transaction of $102,187.08. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $512,305.20. The trade was a 16.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 237,538 shares of company stock valued at $20,748,219. 3.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.