Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Shares Bought by Ballentine Partners LLC

Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 32.6% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,611 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,595 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $1,132,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ANET. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $10,620,270,000 after purchasing an additional 72,311,318 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position 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 worth $6,371,848,000 after purchasing an additional 44,269,572 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its stake 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 worth $3,016,207,000 after buying an additional 20,059,303 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 worth $2,665,829,000 after buying an additional 18,293,874 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake 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 worth $2,328,869,000 after buying an additional 14,454,822 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In related news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.18, for a total value of $705,440.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 123,784 shares in the company, valued at $10,915,273.12. This trade represents a 6.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of Arista Networks 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,168,748.32. This trade represents a 86.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,123,370 shares of company stock worth $113,157,408. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of ANET opened at $108.71 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $136.53 billion, a PE ratio of 46.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $95.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.84. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $59.43 and a 12-month high of $133.58.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to repurchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ANET shares. Barclays cut 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 note on Thursday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wedbush started coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC started coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane lowered shares of Arista Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $106.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.07.

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.