Sunbelt Securities Inc. Acquires 19,961 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 2,897.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,650 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 19,961 shares during the quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc.'s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $2,301,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ANET. Caitlin John LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 174.7% in the fourth quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 239 shares of the technology company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 335.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 248 shares of the technology company's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. New Millennium Group LLC lifted its position in Arista Networks by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 260 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 381.5% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 260 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cyr Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Cyr Financial Inc. now owns 2,377 shares of the technology company's stock worth $263,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:ANET traded up $0.53 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $93.02. The company had a trading volume of 2,206,372 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,955,219. The company has a fifty day moving average of $81.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $96.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $116.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.86, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last released its 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. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. The business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ANET. Barclays reduced their target price on Arista Networks from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC initiated coverage on Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Arista Networks from $73.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $107.47.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Marc Taxay sold 51,848 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total value of $4,593,214.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.03, for a total transaction of $712,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 147,784 shares in the company, valued at $13,157,209.52. This represents a 5.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 237,538 shares of company stock worth $20,748,219. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.