Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 3,114 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $241,000.
A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ANET. DSG Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,984,000. Ibex Wealth Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 14.4% in the 1st quarter. Ibex Wealth Advisors now owns 58,093 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $4,501,000 after purchasing an additional 7,329 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Arista Networks during the first quarter valued at $629,000. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Arista Networks by 227.7% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,814,613 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $863,749,000 after buying an additional 5,429,857 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Motley Fool Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 357.3% in the fourth quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 65,087 shares of the technology company's stock worth $7,194,000 after purchasing an additional 50,855 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Arista Networks Stock Performance
Arista Networks stock traded up $0.33 during trading on Friday, reaching $114.37. The company had a trading volume of 4,866,258 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,009,131. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $59.43 and a 12-month high of $133.57. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $98.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $94.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $143.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.41, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.40.
Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 40.72%. Arista Networks's quarterly revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.
Arista Networks announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several analysts have issued reports on ANET shares. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $73.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI increased their price objective 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 shares of Arista Networks in a report on Thursday, June 26th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $111.40.
View Our Latest Stock Report on Arista Networks
Insider Transactions at Arista Networks
In other Arista Networks news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company's stock, valued at $1,168,748.32. This trade represents a 86.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 748,444 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.43, for a total transaction of $76,663,118.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 30,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,072,900. The trade was a 96.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,177,878 shares of company stock valued at $119,281,861. Insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.
Arista Networks Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
Read More

Before you consider Arista Networks, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Arista Networks wasn't on the list.
While Arista Networks currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Just getting into the stock market? These 10 simple stocks can help beginning investors build long-term wealth without knowing options, technicals, or other advanced strategies.
Get This Free Report