Triglav Skladi D.O.O. Decreases Stock Holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Key Points

• Triglav Skladi D.O.O. reduced its holdings in Arista Networks by 61.6% in Q1, selling 12,500 shares and bringing its total shares to 7,800, valued at $604,000.
• Despite the reduction from Triglav, several institutional investors, such as DSG Capital Advisors LLC and Ibex Wealth Advisors, have recently increased their stakes in Arista Networks.
• Analysts have set new price targets for Arista Networks, with Evercore ISI and Barclays targeting prices of $150.00 and $151.00 respectively, indicating a generally optimistic outlook for the stock.

Triglav Skladi D.O.O. reduced its holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 61.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,800 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 12,500 shares during the quarter. Triglav Skladi D.O.O.'s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $604,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. National Pension Service raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 2,923,936 shares of the technology company's stock worth $226,547,000 after acquiring an additional 203,340 shares in the last quarter. Fox Hill Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. Fox Hill Wealth Management now owns 33,709 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,612,000 after buying an additional 2,827 shares during the last quarter. LGT Group Foundation boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 27.1% in the 1st quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 154,020 shares of the technology company's stock worth $11,933,000 after buying an additional 32,796 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 12.7% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,860,547 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $144,248,000 after purchasing an additional 209,359 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential PLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 1.2% during the first quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 176,103 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $13,644,000 after purchasing an additional 2,124 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Arista Networks Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:ANET traded up $0.75 during trading on Friday, reaching $137.23. 6,054,998 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,893,038. Arista Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $59.43 and a fifty-two week high of $141.99. The firm has a market cap of $172.48 billion, a PE ratio of 53.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $109.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.20.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.08. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 40.90%. The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.11 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 192,979 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.67, for a total value of $26,953,376.93. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,623,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $785,465,112.07. The trade was a 3.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.01, for a total value of $936,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 57,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,761,305.84. The trade was a 12.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 5,767,742 shares of company stock worth $714,048,068. Insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Arista Networks from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. BNP Paribas lowered Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $138.07.

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.