Marietta Investment Partners LLC Has $8.30 Million Stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Key Points

• Marietta Investment Partners LLC reduced its stake in Arista Networks by 5.2%, holding 107,126 shares valued at $8.3 million, which represents 2.0% of its portfolio.
• CEO Jayshree Ullal sold a significant portion of shares, totaling over $76.6 million, decreasing her ownership by 96.15%, while other insiders also sold approximately 1.18 million shares during this quarter.
• Analysts show mixed sentiment on Arista Networks, with price targets ranging from $89 to $123; the current consensus rating is a "Moderate Buy" with an average target price set at $111.40.

Marietta Investment Partners LLC lowered its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 5.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 107,126 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 5,838 shares during the period. Arista Networks comprises about 2.0% of Marietta Investment Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Marietta Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $8,300,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 1.5% in the first quarter. Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC now owns 7,960 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $617,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Optimum Investment Advisors lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 31.3% during the 1st quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 525 shares of the technology company's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. PFG Advisors grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 5,061 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $392,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 45.8% in the first quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 455 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the period. Finally, Weaver Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 0.8% during the first quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 21,449 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,662,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on ANET shares. Citigroup upped their target price on Arista Networks from $112.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. BNP Paribas Exane cut shares of Arista Networks from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $106.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price 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. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $89.00 price target (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $111.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In related news, 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 value of $76,663,118.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 30,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,072,900. This represents a 96.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,168,748.32. This trade represents a 86.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,177,878 shares of company stock worth $119,281,861. Insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Stock Up 0.3%

NYSE ANET opened at $114.37 on Friday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $59.43 and a 52 week high of $133.57. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $98.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $94.94. The company has a market cap of $143.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.40.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 30.48%. The business had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. Arista Networks's quarterly revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to repurchase 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.

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.

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