Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET Position Decreased by Cresset Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• Cresset Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in Arista Networks by 4.3%, selling 1,177,482 shares, but still maintains ownership of 26,111,101 shares, making it their largest holding.
• CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 1,785,165 shares in a transaction valued at $243.18 million, resulting in a 23.86% decrease in their ownership.
• Arista Networks reported a strong quarter with earnings per share of $0.73, exceeding analyst estimates, and announced a $1.50 billion stock buyback plan, signaling confidence in its stock valuation.

Cresset Asset Management LLC cut its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 4.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 26,111,101 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 1,177,482 shares during the quarter. Arista Networks comprises about 10.1% of Cresset Asset Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Cresset Asset Management LLC owned 2.08% of Arista Networks worth $2,023,088,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Clearstead Trust LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 5.1% in the first quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 2,455 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $190,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC now owns 7,960 shares of the technology company's stock worth $617,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 31.3% during the first quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 525 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. PFG Advisors raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 2.7% in the first quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 5,061 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $392,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its position in Arista Networks by 9.4% in the first quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,624 shares of the technology company's stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 192,979 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.67, for a total value of $26,953,376.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,623,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $785,465,112.07. The trade was a 3.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.01, for a total transaction of $936,080.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 57,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,761,305.84. This trade represents a 12.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,767,742 shares of company stock worth $714,048,068 over the last three months. 3.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Arista Networks from $89.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Arista Networks in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $151.00 price target (up from $119.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $138.07.

Arista Networks Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE ANET traded up $0.69 during trading on Monday, reaching $137.99. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,095,961 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,895,477. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $109.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $95.99. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $59.43 and a 12 month high of $141.99.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.08. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 40.90%. The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. The company's revenue was up 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, May 6th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.