Ascent Group LLC Purchases 77,462 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Ascent Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 301.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 103,166 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 77,462 shares during the quarter. Arista Networks accounts for about 0.9% of Ascent Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Ascent Group LLC's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $11,403,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 304.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $10,620,270,000 after acquiring an additional 72,311,318 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 330.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company's stock worth $6,371,848,000 after purchasing an additional 44,269,572 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 277.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 20,059,303 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 311.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,665,829,000 after purchasing an additional 18,293,874 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 218.5% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,328,869,000 after buying an additional 14,454,822 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on ANET. KGI Securities lowered shares of Arista Networks to a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Needham & Company LLC started coverage on Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Barclays cut their target price on Arista Networks from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $107.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arista Networks news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction 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 now directly owns 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,168,748.32. The trade was a 86.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Marc Taxay sold 51,848 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total transaction of $4,593,214.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 237,538 shares of company stock worth $20,748,219 in the last quarter. Insiders own 3.54% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Trading Down 6.9%

Shares of ANET traded down $6.43 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $86.36. The stock had a trading volume of 17,886,432 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,011,003. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $96.78. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $59.43 and a 12 month high of $133.58. The company has a market capitalization of $108.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm 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 29.91%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.