J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 41.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 30,481 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 8,878 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $2,362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ANET. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 330.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company's stock worth $6,371,848,000 after acquiring an additional 44,269,572 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 20,059,303 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Arista Networks by 311.6% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 14,454,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,397,833,000. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC began coverage on Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Arista Networks from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $106.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, KeyCorp started coverage on Arista Networks in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $111.40.

Arista Networks Stock Down 0.1%

ANET stock opened at $111.63 on Tuesday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $59.43 and a 52-week high of $133.58. The business has a fifty day moving average of $97.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $94.78. The stock has a market cap of $140.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.40.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. 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 initiated 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 purchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.19, for a total transaction of $3,335,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,442,801.44. The trade was a 69.81% 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 business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.36, for a total value of $794,880.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 65,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,536,298.24. The trade was a 10.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,177,878 shares of company stock valued at $119,281,861. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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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