Brio Consultants LLC Buys New Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Key Points

• Brio Consultants LLC acquired a new stake in Arista Networks, purchasing 10,744 shares valued at approximately $832,000 in the first quarter.
• Several hedge funds significantly increased their holdings in Arista Networks during the fourth quarter, with FMR LLC leading by growing its position by 330.9%.
• Arista Networks' board has approved a $1.50 billion stock repurchase program as an indication of the company's belief that its shares may be undervalued.

Brio Consultants LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 10,744 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $832,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ANET. FMR LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 330.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $6,371,848,000 after acquiring an additional 44,269,572 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 277.5% during the fourth quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,016,207,000 after acquiring an additional 20,059,303 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 311.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,665,829,000 after acquiring an additional 18,293,874 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in Arista Networks by 218.5% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,328,869,000 after acquiring an additional 14,454,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 330.8% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 11,292,585 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,248,169,000 after acquiring an additional 8,671,235 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.36, for a total value of $794,880.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 65,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,536,298.24. This represents a 10.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,168,748.32. This trade represents a 86.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,177,878 shares of company stock valued at $119,281,861 in the last three months. 3.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

ANET stock opened at $114.37 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $143.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.41, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $98.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $94.65. Arista Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $59.43 and a one year high of $133.57.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its board 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 buy up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often 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. BNP Paribas cut shares of Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $112.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. BNP Paribas Exane cut shares of Arista Networks from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $106.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $89.00 price target (up from $76.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $111.40.

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.

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