LGT Group Foundation Grows Stock Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Key Points

• The LGT Group Foundation increased its stake in Arista Networks by 27.1%, acquiring a total of 154,020 shares valued at approximately $11.93 million.
• CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 1,785,165 shares, reflecting a 23.86% decrease in her ownership, with total sales in the last quarter amounting to $687.1 million.
• Arista Networks reported a strong earnings performance for the quarter, with an EPS of $0.73, exceeding expectations and marking a revenue increase of 30.4% year-over-year.

LGT Group Foundation increased its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 27.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 154,020 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 32,796 shares during the period. LGT Group Foundation's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $11,933,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ANET. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 321.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,806 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $863,000 after purchasing an additional 5,955 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $202,000. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 433.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 10,856 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,200,000 after purchasing an additional 8,822 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 262.9% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 3,712 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $410,000 after purchasing an additional 2,689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 351.5% during the 4th quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 35,076 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,877,000 after purchasing an additional 27,307 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Stock Down 1.1%

ANET stock traded down $1.52 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $136.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,275,085 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,625,780. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $59.43 and a 12 month high of $141.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $171.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a 50 day moving average of $108.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $95.73.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 40.90%. The business had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on ANET. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Wedbush began coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $106.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. BNP Paribas downgraded Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $138.07.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 1,785,165 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.22, for a total transaction of $243,175,176.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,698,074 shares in the company, valued at approximately $776,191,640.28. This represents a 23.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,767,742 shares of company stock worth $714,048,068. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.