Avanza Fonder AB Boosts Stock Holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Avanza Fonder AB grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 2.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 101,298 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,062 shares during the period. Avanza Fonder AB’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $8,120,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in 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 raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 330.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,371,848,000 after acquiring an additional 44,269,572 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 277.5% in the 4th quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,016,207,000 after acquiring an additional 20,059,303 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 311.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,665,829,000 after acquiring an additional 18,293,874 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in Arista Networks by 218.5% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,328,869,000 after purchasing an additional 14,454,822 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,168,748.32. The trade was a 86.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.49, for a total transaction of $102,187.08. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,480 shares in the company, valued at $512,305.20. This trade represents a 16.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 105,690 shares of company stock valued at $9,360,205 in the last quarter. Insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ANET shares. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Wedbush assumed coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.47.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Arista Networks stock opened at $96.93 on Tuesday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $59.43 and a 1 year high of $133.58. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $96.52. The firm has a market cap of $121.74 billion, a PE ratio of 43.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.37.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm 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%. Arista Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks announced that its board has approved 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 purchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are 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.