Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Reduces Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lessened its holdings in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 24.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 148,425 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 49,111 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $12,027,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. HighMark Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 179.7% in the first quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 358 shares of the technology company's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its position in Arista Networks by 381.5% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 260 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its position in Arista Networks by 415.7% in the fourth quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 263 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Cloud Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Arista Networks in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC bought a new stake in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.19, for a total value of $3,335,700.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,442,801.44. This represents a 69.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 748,444 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.43, for a total value of $76,663,118.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 30,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,072,900. This represents a 96.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,177,878 shares of company stock valued at $119,281,861 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. KeyCorp assumed coverage on Arista Networks in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. KGI Securities downgraded Arista Networks to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Arista Networks from $73.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. BNP Paribas downgraded Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded Arista Networks from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $111.40.

Arista Networks Price Performance

ANET stock traded up $0.33 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $114.37. The stock had a trading volume of 4,866,258 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,009,131. The firm has a market cap of $143.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a 50-day moving average of $98.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $94.80. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 40.72%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, May 6th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's management 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.