Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Key Points

• Motley Fool Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 4.7%, now owning 68,134 shares valued at approximately $5.28 million.
• Wall Street analysts have given Arista Networks a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy", with an average target price of $138.07, reflecting positive growth expectations.
• Arista Networks reported a 30.4% increase in revenue compared to the previous year, achieving a quarterly revenue of $2.20 billion and earnings per share of $0.73, exceeding analysts' expectations.

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 4.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 68,134 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,047 shares during the quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $5,279,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 381.5% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 260 shares of the technology company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the period. Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 415.7% during the 4th quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 263 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. HighMark Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 179.7% during the 1st quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 358 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Paces Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 214.5% during the 4th quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 368 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ANET has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $115.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. Finally, Citigroup raised 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, August 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $138.07.

Arista Networks Trading Down 2.4%

Shares of NYSE ANET traded down $3.38 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $137.87. 9,173,609 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,647,648. The company has a market cap of $173.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.23, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.37. The business's fifty day moving average price is $107.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $95.44. 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 announced 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 40.90%. The company's revenue was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 1,785,165 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 5,698,074 shares in the company, valued at approximately $776,191,640.28. This represents a 23.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,767,742 shares of company stock worth $714,048,068. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.