Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Sells 2,877,571 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Key Points

• Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC has reduced its stake in Arista Networks by 76.9%, now holding 866,229 shares valued at approximately $67.1 million.
• Arista Networks reported earnings of $0.73 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.65, alongside a 30.4% revenue increase year-over-year.
• The company has authorized a $1.5 billion stock buyback plan, indicating confidence in the stock's valuation by its leadership.

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 76.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 866,229 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 2,877,571 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC owned about 0.07% of Arista Networks worth $67,115,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ANET. HighMark Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 179.7% in the 1st quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 358 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 381.5% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 260 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the period. Dunhill Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 415.7% in the 4th quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 263 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the period. Cloud Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI set a $150.00 price objective on Arista Networks and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Arista Networks from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $138.07.

Arista Networks Trading Up 0.5%

ANET stock traded up $0.75 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $137.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,054,998 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,893,038. The company has a market cap of $172.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.37. The business's 50 day moving average price is $109.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $96.12. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $59.43 and a 12 month high of $141.99.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 40.90%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect 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 share repurchase program on Tuesday, May 6th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding 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 often a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 1,785,165 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.22, for a total transaction of $243,175,176.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 5,698,074 shares of the company's stock, valued at $776,191,640.28. This represents a 23.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 5,767,742 shares of company stock valued at $714,048,068 over the last 90 days. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by 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.