First Foundation Advisors Raises Holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Key Points

• First Foundation Advisors has increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 7.3%, now owning 42,895 shares valued at approximately $3.32 million.
• CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 748,444 shares of Arista Networks, significantly reducing her ownership by 96.15%, while insiders have sold a total of 1,177,878 shares over the past 90 days.
• Arista Networks reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.65 for the last quarter, beating estimates, and announced a $1.50 billion share buyback program, indicating potential undervaluation of its stock.

First Foundation Advisors raised its holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 7.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,895 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,931 shares during the quarter. First Foundation Advisors' holdings in Arista Networks were worth $3,324,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in Arista Networks by 1.5% in the first quarter. Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC now owns 7,960 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $617,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 31.3% in 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 during the period. PFG Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 5,061 shares of the technology company's stock worth $392,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 45.8% during the 1st quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 455 shares of the technology company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Finally, Weaver Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 21,449 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,662,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 748,444 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.43, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 96.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.36, for a total value of $794,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 65,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,536,298.24. This represents a 10.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,177,878 shares of company stock valued at $119,281,861. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Arista Networks Stock Up 2.8%

ANET stock opened at $117.53 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $99.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.67. The stock has a market cap of $147.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.75, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.40. Arista Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $59.43 and a fifty-two week high of $133.57.

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

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ANET. KeyCorp started coverage on Arista Networks in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. KGI Securities downgraded shares of Arista Networks to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Citigroup boosted their price target 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, Barclays reduced their price objective on Arista Networks from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $111.40.

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.

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