KBC Group NV Sells 40,950 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

KBC Group NV reduced its stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 7.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 499,393 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 40,950 shares during the period. KBC Group NV's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $38,694,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ANET. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 321.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,806 shares of the technology company's stock worth $863,000 after acquiring an additional 5,955 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 433.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 10,856 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,200,000 after buying an additional 8,822 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 257.1% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,182 shares of the technology company's stock worth $241,000 after buying an additional 1,571 shares during the period. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Arista Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $3,866,000. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arista Networks Stock Up 2.2%

ANET traded up $2.16 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $101.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,322,942 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,103,715. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.40. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $91.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $95.50. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $59.43 and a 12 month high of $133.58.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. The company 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 firm'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 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ANET shares. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. KGI Securities downgraded Arista Networks to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Arista Networks from $73.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC started coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Finally, Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $109.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arista Networks news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.07, for a total transaction of $7,205,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,168,748.32. This represents a 86.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 748,444 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.43, for a total value of $76,663,118.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 30,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,072,900. The trade was a 96.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,115,400 shares of company stock valued at $112,364,640. 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.