L & S Advisors Inc Has $249,000 Stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Key Points

• L & S Advisors Inc reduced its stake in Arista Networks by 85.4% in the first quarter, now holding 3,220 shares worth $249,000 after selling 18,833 shares during the period.
• Arista Networks reported earnings of $0.65 per share, exceeding analysts' estimates of $0.59, with a revenue of $2 billion, a 27.6% increase year-over-year.
• Insider sales were notable, with SVP Kenneth Duda selling 80,000 shares and CEO Jayshree Ullal selling 748,444 shares, indicating potential concerns about stock valuation.

L & S Advisors Inc lowered its holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 85.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,220 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 18,833 shares during the period. L & S Advisors Inc's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $249,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. DSG Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth $5,984,000. Ibex Wealth Advisors increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 14.4% during the 1st quarter. Ibex Wealth Advisors now owns 58,093 shares of the technology company's stock worth $4,501,000 after purchasing an additional 7,329 shares during the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $629,000. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 227.7% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,814,613 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $863,749,000 after purchasing an additional 5,429,857 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 275.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,490,700 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $164,767,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093,472 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Arista Networks Trading Down 4.6%

NYSE:ANET opened at $117.56 on Monday. The stock's 50-day moving average is $101.48 and its 200-day moving average is $94.81. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $59.43 and a 1-year high of $133.57. The stock has a market cap of $147.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.37.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The firm had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.50 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding 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 typically a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.07, for a total value of $7,205,600.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,168,748.32. This represents a 86.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 748,444 shares of the firm's 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 approximately $3,072,900. The trade was a 96.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,635,562 shares of company stock worth $291,955,743 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.54% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ANET has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC started coverage on Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Thursday, June 26th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $112.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $114.00.

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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