Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Shares Sold by Montecito Bank & Trust

Montecito Bank & Trust cut its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 15.8% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,170 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,161 shares during the period. Montecito Bank & Trust’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $478,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ANET. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 304.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,620,270,000 after purchasing an additional 72,311,318 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 44,269,572 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Arista Networks by 277.5% in the fourth quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,016,207,000 after buying an additional 20,059,303 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 position 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 valued at $2,328,869,000 after acquiring an additional 14,454,822 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Trading Up 2.8%

Arista Networks stock opened at $94.97 on Tuesday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $59.43 and a 12-month high of $133.58. The stock has a market cap of $119.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $86.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.28.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, 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 has approved a stock repurchase plan 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 value of $7,205,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,168,748.32. This trade represents a 86.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.18, for a total transaction of $705,440.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 123,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,915,273.12. This trade represents a 6.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 105,690 shares of company stock worth $9,360,205 in the last quarter. 3.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price target on the stock. KGI Securities downgraded Arista Networks to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. BNP Paribas downgraded Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $107.38.

About Arista Networks

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.