Sit Investment Associates Inc. Has $21.03 Million Stock Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Key Points

• Sit Investment Associates Inc. increased its stake in Arista Networks by 2.8%, owning 271,394 shares valued at approximately $21 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• CEO Jayshree Ullal sold over 1.7 million shares of the company, significantly reducing her ownership stake by 23.86%, while insiders have sold a total of approximately $714 million in shares over the last ninety days.
• Analysts have recently set varying price targets for Arista Networks, with Barclays raising its target to $151, while six analysts rated it as a hold and fourteen as a buy, reflecting a consensus of Moderate Buy with an average target of $138.07.

Sit Investment Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 2.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 271,394 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,361 shares during the period. Sit Investment Associates Inc.'s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $21,028,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 12.7% during the first quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 252,584 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $19,570,000 after buying an additional 28,500 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. bought a new position in Arista Networks during the first quarter valued at about $1,240,000. Varenne Capital Partners raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 267.1% during the first quarter. Varenne Capital Partners now owns 479,827 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $37,177,000 after buying an additional 349,132 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 26.2% during the first quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 204,842 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $15,871,000 after buying an additional 42,486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 7.5% during the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 2,923,936 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $226,547,000 after buying an additional 203,340 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 1,785,165 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.22, for a total value of $243,175,176.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,698,074 shares of the company's stock, valued at $776,191,640.28. The trade was a 23.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,767,742 shares of company stock valued at $714,048,068. 3.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

NYSE ANET traded up $0.75 during trading on Friday, reaching $137.23. 6,054,998 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,893,038. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $109.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $96.20. The company has a market cap of $172.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.37. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $59.43 and a 1-year high of $141.99.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. The business 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%. Arista Networks's revenue was up 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.53 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $151.00 target price (up from $119.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Thursday, August 7th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $112.00 price objective on the stock. Wolfe Research began coverage on Arista Networks in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Finally, Wedbush began coverage on Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $138.07.

About Arista Networks

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.