QRG Capital Management Inc. Acquires 10,217 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• QRG Capital Management boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 6.4%, buying 10,217 shares to hold 169,613 shares worth about $22.224 million at the end of the quarter.
• Arista beat expectations with Q results of $0.82 EPS vs. $0.75 consensus and revenue of $2.49 billion (up 28.9% YoY), showing strong profitability (net margin 38.99%, ROE 30.37%).
• Significant insider selling occurred this quarter: CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 428,000 shares for roughly $75.9 million under a 10b5‑1 plan, and insiders sold about 1.49 million shares worth $245.3 million overall.

QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 169,613 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 10,217 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $22,224,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in Arista Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 141.3% during the 3rd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 222 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in Arista Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Arista Networks Stock Up 0.0%

ANET stock opened at $172.70 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $217.46 billion, a PE ratio of 62.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.67. The business has a 50 day moving average of $141.84 and a 200-day moving average of $137.69. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $82.80 and a 12-month high of $179.80.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The technology company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.07. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.37% and a net margin of 38.99%.The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.38 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. Arista Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 28.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 428,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.44, for a total value of $75,944,320.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 5,209,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $924,321,690.08. This represents a 7.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total value of $4,292,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,740,600.64. The trade was a 71.15% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,494,729 shares of company stock worth $245,304,519. 3.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ANET shares. UBS Group set a $200.00 price target on Arista Networks in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $175.00 price target (up from $159.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Arista Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $165.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Susquehanna upgraded Arista Networks to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Truist Financial initiated coverage on Arista Networks in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $161.00 target price on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $178.67.

Arista Networks Profile

Arista Networks, Inc is a technology company that designs and sells cloud networking solutions for large-scale data centers and enterprise environments. The company is best known for its high-performance switching and routing platforms, which are used to build scalable, low-latency networks for cloud service providers, internet companies, financial services, telecommunications, and enterprise IT. Arista's offerings emphasize programmability, automation and telemetry to support modern, software-driven network architectures.

Central to Arista's product portfolio is its Extensible Operating System (EOS), a modular network operating system that provides consistent programmability, stateful control and advanced visibility across the company's hardware platforms.

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