M & L Capital Management Ltd Sells 81,200 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

M & L Capital Management Ltd reduced its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 25.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 240,800 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 81,200 shares during the period. Arista Networks comprises about 5.6% of M & L Capital Management Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. M & L Capital Management Ltd's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $18,657,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 304.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company's stock worth $10,620,270,000 after buying an additional 72,311,318 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 330.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $6,371,848,000 after purchasing an additional 44,269,572 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 277.5% in 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 311.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,665,829,000 after buying an additional 18,293,874 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 218.5% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,328,869,000 after buying an additional 14,454,822 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.07, for a total value of $7,205,600.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,168,748.32. This trade represents a 86.04% decrease in their position. The sale 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 Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.58, for a total transaction of $708,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 131,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,673,426.72. This represents a 5.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 177,690 shares of company stock valued at $15,442,765 in the last quarter. Insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Stock Up 4.5%

Shares of Arista Networks stock traded up $4.05 on Tuesday, hitting $93.83. 5,037,124 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,972,453. The stock has a market cap of $117.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.27, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. The firm's 50-day moving average is $82.05 and its 200 day moving average is $96.56. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $59.43 and a 52-week high of $133.57.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. The firm had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.50 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows 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 board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ANET has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $107.47.

Arista Networks Company 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.