Penserra Capital Management LLC Trims Stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Penserra Capital Management LLC cut its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 16.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 38,082 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 7,573 shares during the quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $2,949,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 304.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $10,620,270,000 after buying an additional 72,311,318 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 330.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $6,371,848,000 after buying an additional 44,269,572 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 277.5% during 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 buying an additional 20,059,303 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 311.6% during the fourth 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. lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 218.5% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,328,869,000 after purchasing an additional 14,454,822 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.07, for a total transaction of $7,205,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,168,748.32. The trade was a 86.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 748,444 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.43, for a total value of $76,663,118.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 30,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,072,900. This represents a 96.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,123,370 shares of company stock worth $113,157,408 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE ANET traded up $0.38 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $103.77. The company had a trading volume of 2,321,694 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,087,016. Arista Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $59.43 and a one year high of $133.58. The stock has a market cap of $130.32 billion, a PE ratio of 44.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.40. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $93.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $95.12.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 40.72%. The company had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. Arista Networks's revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ANET has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Arista Networks from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. KeyCorp initiated coverage on Arista Networks in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. Barclays dropped their price target on Arista Networks from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on 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, BNP Paribas Exane lowered Arista Networks from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $106.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $109.33.

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.