Deutsche Bank AG Purchases 1,670,902 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Key Points

• Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in Arista Networks, purchasing an additional 1,670,902 shares to own 8,068,056 shares total, representing a 26.1% increase in holdings.
• Insider transactions included CEO Jayshree Ullal selling 880,180 shares for over $109 million, reducing her stake by 12.90%.
• Arista Networks reported a strong quarterly performance with an EPS of $0.73, beating analyst expectations, and announced a share repurchase plan valued at $1.50 billion.

Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 26.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 8,068,056 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 1,670,902 shares during the quarter. Deutsche Bank AG owned 0.64% of Arista Networks worth $625,113,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 880,180 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.79, for a total transaction of $109,837,662.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,944,405 shares of the company's stock, valued at $741,802,299.95. The trade was a 12.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.01, for a total value of $936,080.00. Following the sale, the director owned 57,784 shares in the company, 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 have sold a total of 3,443,742 shares of company stock valued at $395,523,885 in the last three months. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wedbush initiated coverage on Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Thursday. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $123.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded Arista Networks from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $135.79.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

NYSE ANET opened at $138.73 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $174.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.56, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $103.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $95.28. Arista Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $59.43 and a one year high of $139.53.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.90% and a return on equity of 31.93%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.53 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

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