Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Shares Purchased by Versor Investments LP

Key Points

• Versor Investments LP increased its stake in Arista Networks by 141.9% during Q1, now owning 24,340 shares valued at approximately $1.89 million.
• Arista Networks reported a 30.4% increase in quarterly revenue, totaling $2.20 billion, with earnings per share of $0.73, surpassing estimates.
• The company's board has authorized a $1.50 billion share buyback program, indicating confidence that shares are undervalued.

Versor Investments LP boosted its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 141.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,340 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 14,280 shares during the quarter. Versor Investments LP's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $1,886,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 97,856,933 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $7,581,955,000 after acquiring an additional 1,771,982 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 20,059,303 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 1st quarter valued at about $933,626,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 330.8% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 11,292,585 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,248,169,000 after acquiring an additional 8,671,235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 354.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,942,816 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,098,979,000 after acquiring an additional 7,753,991 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ANET opened at $137.23 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.48 billion, a PE ratio of 53.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.37. The firm's 50-day moving average is $109.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $96.12. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $59.43 and a 1 year high of $141.99.

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

Arista Networks announced that its board has authorized a share 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 purchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.01, for a total transaction of $936,080.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 57,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,761,305.84. This represents a 12.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 864 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.68, for a total transaction of $99,083.52. Following the sale, the director owned 7,460 shares in the company, valued at $855,512.80. The trade was a 10.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,767,742 shares of company stock worth $714,048,068 over the last three months. Company insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BNP Paribas cut shares of Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. 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 target on the stock. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $89.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $138.07.

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.

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