Rakuten Securities Inc. Buys 3,419 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 93.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,075 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 3,419 shares during the quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc.'s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $548,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 304.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company's stock worth $10,620,270,000 after buying an additional 72,311,318 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 330.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company's stock worth $6,371,848,000 after buying an additional 44,269,572 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $3,016,207,000 after buying an additional 20,059,303 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $2,665,829,000 after buying an additional 18,293,874 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 14,454,822 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,492 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.49, for a total transaction of $102,187.08. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,480 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $512,305.20. This trade represents a 16.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.07, for a total value of $7,205,600.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,168,748.32. The trade was a 86.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 105,690 shares of company stock valued at $9,360,205. Insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of ANET traded up $0.44 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $90.12. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,161,198 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,023,160. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $59.43 and a 1-year high of $133.58. The stock has a market cap of $113.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.15, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $96.11.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company 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%. The business's revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ANET shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. KGI Securities downgraded Arista Networks to a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wedbush initiated coverage on Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group raised Arista Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $107.38.

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.