Pacer Advisors Inc. Acquires 36,967 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 21.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 206,579 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 36,967 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $16,006,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC now owns 7,960 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $617,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 31.3% in the first quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 525 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. PFG Advisors boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 2.7% in the first quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 5,061 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $392,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 45.8% in the first quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 455 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weaver Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 0.8% during the first quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 21,449 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,662,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC began coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Wedbush began coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $89.00 price objective (up from $76.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $111.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.19, for a total value of $3,335,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,442,801.44. This represents a 69.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 748,444 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.43, for a total transaction of $76,663,118.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 30,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,072,900. The trade was a 96.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,177,878 shares of company stock valued at $119,281,861. Company insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE ANET opened at $114.37 on Friday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $59.43 and a 12-month high of $133.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $143.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $98.86 and a 200 day moving average of $94.80.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 30.48%. 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 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

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

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.