Mizuho Securities USA LLC Reduces Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Key Points

• Mizuho Securities USA LLC has reduced its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 15.5%, now holding 82,712 shares worth approximately $6.41 million.
• In the fourth quarter, several large investors significantly increased their stakes in Arista Networks, including Brighton Jones LLC which boosted its stake by 321.7%.
• Arista Networks reported a strong quarterly earnings with revenue of $2.20 billion and earnings per share (EPS) of $0.73, surpassing analyst expectations.

Mizuho Securities USA LLC cut its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 15.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 82,712 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 15,193 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $6,409,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ANET. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 321.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,806 shares of the technology company's stock worth $863,000 after purchasing an additional 5,955 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Arista Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $202,000. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its position in Arista Networks by 433.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 10,856 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,200,000 after buying an additional 8,822 shares during the period. FIL Ltd boosted its position in Arista Networks by 262.9% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 3,712 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $410,000 after buying an additional 2,689 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in Arista Networks by 316.4% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 70,309 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $7,771,000 after buying an additional 53,426 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

NYSE:ANET opened at $139.15 on Friday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $59.43 and a one year high of $141.01. The firm has a market cap of $174.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $105.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $95.30.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.90% and a return on equity of 31.05%. Arista Networks's revenue was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on ANET. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $123.00 to $136.00 and gave the company 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. BNP Paribas cut shares of Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Arista Networks from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $106.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $138.07.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.19, for a total transaction of $3,335,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,442,801.44. The trade was a 69.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 1,785,165 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $776,191,640.28. This trade represents a 23.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,228,907 shares of company stock valued at $638,699,061. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.

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