Park National Corp OH Buys New Stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Park National Corp OH bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 349,159 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $27,053,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Caitlin John LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 174.7% in the 4th quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 239 shares of the technology company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 335.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 248 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. New Millennium Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 300.0% during the 4th quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 260 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 381.5% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 260 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cyr Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Cyr Financial Inc. now owns 2,377 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $263,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.07, for a total transaction of $7,205,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,168,748.32. This represents a 86.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.58, for a total transaction of $708,640.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 131,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,673,426.72. This trade represents a 5.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 177,690 shares of company stock worth $15,442,765 in the last quarter. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Arista Networks Trading Up 1.8%

ANET stock traded up $1.60 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $88.24. The company had a trading volume of 3,206,207 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,971,649. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $59.43 and a 1 year high of $133.57. The company has a market capitalization of $110.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.75, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a 50 day moving average of $81.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $96.59.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) 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 29.91%. The company had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. The company's revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to repurchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ANET has been the subject of several recent research reports. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $112.00 target price for the company. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut 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. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $73.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KGI Securities lowered shares of Arista Networks to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Five equities 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.com, Arista Networks has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.