Kovack Advisors Inc. Sells 4,884 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Key Points

• Kovack Advisors Inc. significantly reduced its holdings in Arista Networks by 58.3%, selling 4,884 shares during the first quarter, which left them with a valuation of $271,000 in shares at quarter's end.
• Several large investors, including FMR LLC and Cresset Asset Management, have dramatically increased their stakes in Arista Networks during the fourth quarter, indicating strong institutional interest in the company.
• Arista Networks reported a 27.6% year-over-year increase in revenue and announced a $1.50 billion stock buyback program, signaling confidence in the company’s valuation and market future.

Kovack Advisors Inc. lowered its holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 58.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,494 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 4,884 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $271,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. FMR LLC grew its stake 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 buying an additional 44,269,572 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $3,016,207,000 after purchasing an additional 20,059,303 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $2,665,829,000 after purchasing an additional 18,293,874 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 218.5% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,328,869,000 after purchasing an additional 14,454,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 330.8% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 11,292,585 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,248,169,000 after purchasing an additional 8,671,235 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

ANET opened at $114.37 on Friday. The firm's fifty day moving average is $98.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.80. The firm has a market cap of $143.64 billion, a PE ratio of 48.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.40. Arista Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $59.43 and a twelve month high of $133.57.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.36, for a total transaction of $794,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 65,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,536,298.24. This represents a 10.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 748,444 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 30,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,072,900. This represents a 96.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,177,878 shares of company stock worth $119,281,861. Company insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on ANET shares. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. KGI Securities cut shares of Arista Networks to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $111.40.

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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