Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Sells 561,267 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Key Points

• Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp reduced its stake in Arista Networks by 38.3%, selling 561,267 shares and owning about 0.07% of the company valued at $70.16 million.
• Several other institutional investors increased their positions, with Strategic Advocates LLC raising their holdings by an impressive 975.7% during the first quarter.
• Wall Street analysts have mixed ratings for Arista Networks, with some upgrading their position to a “buy” while others maintain a “hold” rating, resulting in a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.00.

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp trimmed its holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 38.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 905,552 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 561,267 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned 0.07% of Arista Networks worth $70,162,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 321.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,806 shares of the technology company's stock worth $863,000 after buying an additional 5,955 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth $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. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 345.7% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,329,652 shares of the technology company's stock worth $146,966,000 after buying an additional 1,031,351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 555.0% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 6,851 shares of the technology company's stock worth $757,000 after buying an additional 5,805 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ANET traded down $5.66 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $117.56. The company's stock had a trading volume of 11,553,581 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,831,898. The stock has a market cap of $147.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.37. Arista Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $59.43 and a one year high of $133.57. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $101.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.81.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, May 6th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ANET has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BNP Paribas cut shares of Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. KGI Securities cut shares of Arista Networks to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $112.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $114.00.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were 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 $1,168,748.32. This trade represents a 86.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 748,444 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 30,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,072,900. The trade was a 96.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,635,562 shares of company stock worth $291,955,743 in the last three months. 3.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Arista Networks

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.