Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Sells 9,486 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC reduced its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 6.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 130,880 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 9,486 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $10,141,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Optas LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 2.2% during the first quarter. Optas LLC now owns 24,214 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,876,000 after acquiring an additional 511 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 151.2% during the first quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,610 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,519,000 after acquiring an additional 11,804 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 14.8% during the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 71,162 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,514,000 after acquiring an additional 9,165 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 964.0% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 3,373 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $261,000 after buying an additional 3,056 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the first quarter valued at $447,000. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on ANET. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group raised shares of Arista Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Needham & Company LLC began coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $108.20.

Arista Networks Trading Down 4.5%

Shares of ANET stock traded down $4.06 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $86.18. The stock had a trading volume of 18,543,923 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,091,656. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $87.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $95.92. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $59.43 and a 12 month high of $133.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.23 billion, a PE ratio of 38.21, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.37.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The business had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. Arista Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to buy up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.58, for a total value of $708,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 131,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,673,426.72. This represents a 5.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.23, for a total transaction of $2,766,900.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,196,776.48. The trade was a 69.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 161,690 shares of company stock valued at $14,525,085 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.54% of the company's stock.

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.