Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Shares Sold by Western Financial Corp CA

Western Financial Corp CA lessened its holdings in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 4.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,509 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,011 shares during the period. Arista Networks accounts for approximately 0.9% of Western Financial Corp CA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Western Financial Corp CA’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $1,589,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 buying an additional 72,311,318 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Arista Networks by 330.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,371,848,000 after buying an additional 44,269,572 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted 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 worth $3,016,207,000 after acquiring an additional 20,059,303 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 311.6% in the fourth 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. 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 acquiring an additional 14,454,822 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,168,748.32. This represents a 86.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.55, for a total transaction of $620,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 139,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,840,249.20. This represents a 5.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 161,690 shares of company stock valued at $14,525,085. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on Arista Networks from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded Arista Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $108.87.

Arista Networks Stock Up 1.4%

NYSE ANET opened at $96.29 on Thursday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $59.43 and a fifty-two week high of $133.58. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $88.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $95.73. The stock has a market cap of $120.93 billion, a PE ratio of 40.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.37.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The business had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan 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 plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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.