Denali Advisors LLC Sells 40,421 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Denali Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 69.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,135 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 40,421 shares during the period. Denali Advisors LLC's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $1,405,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 304.2% during the 4th 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 boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 330.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company's stock worth $6,371,848,000 after buying an additional 44,269,572 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 lifted its stake in 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. lifted 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 worth $2,328,869,000 after acquiring an additional 14,454,822 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ANET traded up $2.78 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $112.56. 3,240,019 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,135,490. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $59.43 and a 12-month high of $133.58. The firm has a market cap of $141.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.40. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $97.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $94.78.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 40.72%. The company had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. Arista Networks's quarterly revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup lifted 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. Needham & Company LLC started coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane cut shares of Arista Networks from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $106.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $111.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,168,748.32. This represents a 86.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 748,444 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 30,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,072,900. This trade represents a 96.15% decrease in their position. 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 in the last three months. Insiders own 3.54% of the company's stock.

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.