Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Stock Position Lifted by Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ

Key Points

• Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB increased its stake in Arista Networks by 16.3%, acquiring an additional 76,648 shares, bringing its total holdings to 546,520 shares valued at approximately $42.3 million.
• In its latest earnings report, Arista Networks surpassed analysts' estimates with earnings of $0.65 per share and a revenue of $2 billion, up 27.6% year-over-year.
• The company's Board approved a $1.5 billion stock repurchase program, indicating confidence in its stock valuation.

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 16.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 546,520 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 76,648 shares during the quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $42,295,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. FMR LLC raised its position in Arista Networks by 330.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $6,371,848,000 after purchasing an additional 44,269,572 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 277.5% in the 4th quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,016,207,000 after purchasing an additional 20,059,303 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 311.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,665,829,000 after purchasing an additional 18,293,874 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 218.5% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,328,869,000 after buying an additional 14,454,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,397,833,000. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arista Networks Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE ANET traded up $0.33 on Friday, hitting $114.37. The company had a trading volume of 4,866,258 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,009,131. The firm has a market capitalization of $143.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.41, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.40. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $59.43 and a 12-month high of $133.57. The business has a 50 day moving average of $98.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $94.94.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 40.72%. Arista Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks declared that its board has approved a share 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 generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 748,444 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.43, for a total value of $76,663,118.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 30,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,072,900. This represents a 96.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.07, for a total value of $7,205,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,168,748.32. This represents a 86.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,177,878 shares of company stock valued at $119,281,861. Insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ANET. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating and set a $89.00 price target (up from $76.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. KGI Securities lowered Arista Networks to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. BNP Paribas lowered Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane lowered Arista Networks from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $106.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $111.40.

Arista Networks 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.