Commerce Bank Sells 27,489 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Key Points

• Commerce Bank has decreased its stake in Arista Networks by 15.2%, now owning 153,665 shares valued at approximately $11.9 million.
• Analysts' ratings show a bullish outlook for Arista Networks, with an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a price target of $114.00.
• The company announced a $1.5 billion stock repurchase program, indicating confidence in its stock valuation.

Commerce Bank lessened its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 15.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 153,665 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 27,489 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $11,906,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ANET. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 330.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company's stock worth $6,371,848,000 after buying an additional 44,269,572 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 277.5% in the fourth quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,016,207,000 after buying an additional 20,059,303 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 330.8% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 11,292,585 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,248,169,000 after buying an additional 8,671,235 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 271.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,190,118 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,236,844,000 after buying an additional 8,175,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 354.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,942,816 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,098,979,000 after buying an additional 7,753,991 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Trading Down 4.6%

ANET stock traded down $5.66 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $117.56. 11,553,581 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,253,870. The stock's fifty day moving average is $101.48 and its 200-day moving average is $94.98. The company has a market cap of $147.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.37. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $59.43 and a 52-week high of $133.57.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 40.72%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ANET has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $112.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Arista Networks from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded shares of Arista Networks from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $106.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $114.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 748,444 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.43, for a total transaction of $76,663,118.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 30,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,072,900. The trade was a 96.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.07, for a total value of $7,205,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,168,748.32. This represents a 86.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,635,562 shares of company stock worth $291,955,743 over the last three months. Company insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

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.