PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Purchases 21,082 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Key Points

• PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 8.0%, acquiring 21,082 shares during the first quarter, bringing the total number of shares owned to 285,258 with a valuation of $22.1 million.
• Arista Networks announced a $1.5 billion stock buyback program to repurchase up to 1.3% of its shares, signaling management's belief that the stock is undervalued.
• The company reported $2 billion in revenue for the last quarter, exceeding analyst estimates, with a net margin of 40.72% and a year-over-year revenue growth of 27.6%.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 8.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 285,258 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 21,082 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.'s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $22,102,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ANET. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in Arista Networks by 17.3% in the 1st quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 561,301 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $43,490,000 after acquiring an additional 82,820 shares in the last quarter. IFG Advisory LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 3,684 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $285,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association increased its position in Arista Networks by 71.4% in the 1st quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 288,012 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $22,315,000 after acquiring an additional 119,948 shares in the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP increased its position in Arista Networks by 25.5% in the 1st quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 33,765 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,616,000 after acquiring an additional 6,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Arista Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $548,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Price Performance

ANET traded down $2.27 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $118.08. The company had a trading volume of 14,469,511 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,995,849. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $59.43 and a 12 month high of $133.57. The business's fifty day moving average price is $102.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $94.82. The company has a market cap of $148.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.98, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 1.37.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The firm had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to repurchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 880,180 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.79, for a total value of $109,837,662.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 5,944,405 shares of the company's stock, valued at $741,802,299.95. The trade was a 12.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.19, for a total transaction of $3,335,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,442,801.44. This represents a 69.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,443,742 shares of company stock worth $395,523,885. Insiders own 3.54% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ANET has been the subject of several research reports. BNP Paribas Exane cut shares of Arista Networks from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $106.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. KGI Securities cut shares of Arista Networks to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $114.00.

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.