Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Increases Stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 1.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,458,173 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 24,748 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.20% of Arista Networks worth $190,459,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 72,311,318 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 330.9% during the 4th 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 increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 277.5% during the 4th 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 increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 311.6% during the 4th 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. increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 218.5% during the 4th 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. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of ANET traded down $2.22 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $99.37. 10,389,025 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,073,337. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $59.43 and a 52 week high of $133.58. The company's 50 day moving average is $89.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $95.58. The company has a market capitalization of $124.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.06, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.37.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last issued 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. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 40.72%. The company had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Arista Networks declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ANET. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Arista Networks from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $112.00 target price on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Needham & Company LLC began coverage on Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $89.00 target price (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $109.33.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.07, for a total value of $7,205,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,168,748.32. This trade represents a 86.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,492 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.49, for a total value of $102,187.08. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,480 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $512,305.20. This represents a 16.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 161,690 shares of company stock valued at $14,525,085 over the last quarter. 3.39% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.