Rhumbline Advisers Grows Stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 2.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,908,554 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 38,366 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned 0.15% of Arista Networks worth $147,875,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 109.8% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 46,401 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,595,000 after purchasing an additional 24,279 shares in the last quarter. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $254,000. Rooted Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 60.0% in the first quarter. Rooted Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,303 shares of the technology company's stock worth $333,000 after buying an additional 1,613 shares in the last quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 2.0% in the first quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. now owns 139,217 shares of the technology company's stock worth $10,787,000 after buying an additional 2,764 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 40.2% in the first quarter. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY now owns 3,225 shares of the technology company's stock worth $250,000 after buying an additional 925 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on ANET. Needham & Company LLC began coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $89.00 price objective (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Arista Networks from $73.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Arista Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $112.00 to $115.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $107.47.

Arista Networks Stock Up 0.2%

NYSE ANET traded up $0.17 on Thursday, reaching $95.11. The stock had a trading volume of 7,929,264 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,058,966. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $59.43 and a 12-month high of $133.58. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $83.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $96.55.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase 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 typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.07, for a total transaction of $7,205,600.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,168,748.32. This represents a 86.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.55, for a total transaction of $620,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 139,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,840,249.20. This represents a 5.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 105,690 shares of company stock worth $9,360,205 over the last three months. Company insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

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.