Leelyn Smith LLC Takes Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Leelyn Smith LLC purchased a new position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 25,307 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,961,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. DSG Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth $5,984,000. Ibex Wealth Advisors grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 14.4% in the first quarter. Ibex Wealth Advisors now owns 58,093 shares of the technology company's stock worth $4,501,000 after acquiring an additional 7,329 shares in the last quarter. Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 257.6% during the 4th quarter. Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. now owns 76,950 shares of the technology company's stock worth $8,505,000 after purchasing an additional 55,430 shares during the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the 1st quarter worth $629,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 227.7% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,814,613 shares of the technology company's stock worth $863,749,000 after purchasing an additional 5,429,857 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $112.00 price objective for the company. BNP Paribas cut shares of Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Wedbush assumed coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Arista Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $111.40.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 748,444 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.43, for a total transaction of $76,663,118.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 30,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,072,900. The trade was a 96.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.07, for a total transaction of $7,205,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,168,748.32. This trade represents a 86.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,123,370 shares of company stock worth $113,157,408 over the last ninety days. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ANET traded up $3.81 on Thursday, reaching $112.11. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,581,307 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,170,093. The stock's 50-day moving average is $96.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.99. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $59.43 and a 52-week high of $133.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $140.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.45, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.40.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analysts' expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast 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 authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, May 6th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.