Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Shares Sold by Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 79.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,846 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 30,484 shares during the quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $608,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Arista Networks by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 97,856,933 shares of the technology company's stock worth $7,581,955,000 after buying an additional 1,771,982 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its position in 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 worth $3,016,207,000 after buying an additional 20,059,303 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Arista Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $933,626,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its position in 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 worth $1,248,169,000 after buying an additional 8,671,235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Arista Networks by 354.3% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arista Networks Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of ANET opened at $136.49 on Friday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $59.43 and a 52-week high of $141.99. The firm's fifty day moving average is $109.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $95.98. The stock has a market cap of $171.55 billion, a PE ratio of 53.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.37.

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

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ANET shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered shares of Arista Networks from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $106.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $112.00 target price for the company. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $106.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $150.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Arista Networks presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $138.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 192,979 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.67, for a total transaction of $26,953,376.93. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 5,623,721 shares of the company's stock, valued at $785,465,112.07. The trade was a 3.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was 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 trade represents a 12.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,767,742 shares of company stock valued at $714,048,068 in the last 90 days. 3.39% of the stock is owned by 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.

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