Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Shares Acquired by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 13.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 810,167 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 92,916 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $62,772,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Arista Networks by 321.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,806 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $863,000 after purchasing an additional 5,955 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $202,000. Stephens Inc. AR raised its position in Arista Networks by 318.1% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 11,503 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,271,000 after purchasing an additional 8,752 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC raised its position in Arista Networks by 300.4% in the fourth quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 3,900 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $431,000 after purchasing an additional 2,926 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. raised its position in Arista Networks by 87.7% in the fourth quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 2,284 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $252,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ANET shares. Needham & Company LLC started coverage on Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Erste Group Bank downgraded Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group upgraded Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Arista Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $106.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.49, for a total transaction of $102,187.08. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,480 shares in the company, valued at $512,305.20. The trade was a 16.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.07, for a total transaction of $7,205,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,168,748.32. This represents a 86.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 105,690 shares of company stock worth $9,360,205. Corporate insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE ANET opened at $94.25 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.48. The company has a market cap of $118.38 billion, a PE ratio of 42.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.37. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $59.43 and a 12-month high of $133.58.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. The firm’s revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast 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 buyback program on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.