Nomura Holdings Inc. Boosts Stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Nomura Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 25.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,301 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 9,026 shares during the quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc.'s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $4,897,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 worth $10,620,270,000 after purchasing an additional 72,311,318 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 330.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $6,371,848,000 after purchasing an additional 44,269,572 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 277.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 20,059,303 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $2,665,829,000 after purchasing an additional 18,293,874 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 14,454,822 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arista Networks news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.03, for a total transaction of $712,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 147,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,157,209.52. This trade represents a 5.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John F. Mccool sold 17,433 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.57, for a total value of $1,683,504.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 410,867 shares of company stock valued at $37,056,669 over the last quarter. 3.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Arista Networks Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:ANET traded up $0.29 during trading on Monday, reaching $96.71. 6,158,059 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,059,765. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $59.43 and a 52-week high of $133.58. The business's fifty day moving average is $80.29 and its 200-day moving average is $97.20.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. The business's quarterly revenue 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, sell-side analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ANET has been the topic of several recent research reports. KGI Securities downgraded shares of Arista Networks to a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $107.14.

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.