Sit Investment Associates Inc. Raises Stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Sit Investment Associates Inc. boosted its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 2.8% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 271,394 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,361 shares during the period. Sit Investment Associates Inc.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $21,028,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 1.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 97,856,933 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,581,955,000 after buying an additional 1,771,982 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $3,016,207,000 after buying an additional 20,059,303 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Arista Networks in the first quarter worth approximately $933,626,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 330.8% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 11,292,585 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,248,169,000 after purchasing an additional 8,671,235 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 354.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,942,816 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,098,979,000 after purchasing an additional 7,753,991 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Trading Down 2.4%

ANET opened at $137.87 on Thursday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $59.43 and a 12-month high of $141.99. The company has a market cap of $173.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $108.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $95.73.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.08. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 40.90%. The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS 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 outstanding 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 usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 192,979 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.67, for a total transaction of $26,953,376.93. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,623,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $785,465,112.07. This trade represents a 3.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 864 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.68, for a total value of $99,083.52. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,460 shares in the company, valued at $855,512.80. This trade represents a 10.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 5,767,742 shares of company stock valued at $714,048,068. Insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ANET has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI set a $150.00 price objective on Arista Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Erste Group Bank raised Arista Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Six research 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $138.07.

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.