Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 24,279 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 109.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,401 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 24,279 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $3,595,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 304.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company's stock worth $10,620,270,000 after acquiring an additional 72,311,318 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 330.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $6,371,848,000 after buying an additional 44,269,572 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its stake 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 worth $3,016,207,000 after acquiring an additional 20,059,303 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 311.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,665,829,000 after purchasing an additional 18,293,874 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 218.5% in the 4th 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 period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ANET traded up $1.34 during trading on Thursday, reaching $96.28. 2,768,371 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,030,789. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $82.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $96.54. 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 $120.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. The business had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to repurchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.18, for a total transaction of $705,440.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 123,784 shares in the company, valued at $10,915,273.12. This trade represents a 6.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,168,748.32. This represents a 86.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 105,690 shares of company stock worth $9,360,205 over the last quarter. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ANET has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. KGI Securities lowered shares of Arista Networks to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $112.00 target price on the stock. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $107.47.

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.