Public Sector Pension Investment Board Grows Stock Holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Key Points

• The Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in Arista Networks by 7.2%, owning 155,818 shares valued at $12 million after purchasing an additional 10,467 shares in Q1.
• Insiders sold over 5.7 million shares of Arista Networks stock in the past 90 days, representing a significant reduction in their holdings amidst a backdrop of strong institutional interest.
• Arista Networks reported a 30.4% increase in quarterly revenue year-over-year, posting $2.20 billion in revenue and $0.73 earnings per share, exceeding analyst expectations.

Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 7.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 155,818 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 10,467 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $12,073,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ANET. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 277.5% in 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. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 1st quarter valued at about $933,626,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 330.8% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 11,292,585 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,248,169,000 after acquiring an additional 8,671,235 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 354.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,942,816 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,098,979,000 after purchasing an additional 7,753,991 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 278.4% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,641,326 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $955,126,000 after purchasing an additional 6,357,753 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.01, for a total value of $936,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 57,784 shares in the company, valued at $6,761,305.84. This represents a 12.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 864 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.68, for a total value of $99,083.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,460 shares of the company's stock, valued at $855,512.80. The trade was a 10.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,767,742 shares of company stock worth $714,048,068 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Arista Networks from $106.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $151.00 price target (up from $119.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Six investment 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, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $138.07.

Arista Networks Price Performance

NYSE ANET traded up $0.75 during trading on Friday, reaching $137.23. 6,051,612 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,589,435. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $109.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $95.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $172.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.97, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.37. Arista Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $59.43 and a fifty-two week high of $141.99.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 40.90%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.