Bryce Point Capital LLC Takes Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Key Points

• Bryce Point Capital LLC acquired a stake in Arista Networks, Inc. with 12,061 shares valued at approximately $956,000, making it 0.7% of the fund's holdings.
• Several institutional investors increased their positions in Arista Networks in the first quarter, contributing to 82.47% of the company's stock being owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
• Arista Networks reported strong earnings with a 27.6% revenue increase year-over-year and announced a $1.50 billion stock repurchase plan, indicating confidence in its stock valuation.

Bryce Point Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 12,061 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $956,000. Arista Networks comprises 0.7% of Bryce Point Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Nemes Rush Group LLC purchased a new stake in Arista Networks in the first quarter valued at approximately $411,000. Dudley Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 41.3% in the first quarter. Dudley Capital Management LLC now owns 4,588 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,340 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 6.5% in the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,183,126 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $91,669,000 after purchasing an additional 72,531 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 94.8% in the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 650,011 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $50,363,000 after purchasing an additional 316,309 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 1.7% in the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 32,746 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,537,000 after purchasing an additional 544 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ANET. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Thursday, June 26th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Wedbush initiated coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $112.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $111.40.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ANET opened at $114.37 on Friday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $59.43 and a 1 year high of $133.57. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $98.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.80. 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.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 40.72%. The business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.07, for a total value of $7,205,600.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,168,748.32. This represents a 86.04% 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 company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.43, for a total transaction 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 $3,072,900. This represents a 96.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,177,878 shares of company stock worth $119,281,861. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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