Vontobel Holding Ltd. Acquires 148,975 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 47.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 461,056 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 148,975 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.'s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $35,723,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 304.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company's stock worth $10,620,270,000 after purchasing an additional 72,311,318 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Arista Networks by 330.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company's stock worth $6,371,848,000 after buying an additional 44,269,572 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Arista Networks by 277.5% during the 4th quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,016,207,000 after buying an additional 20,059,303 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 311.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,665,829,000 after acquiring an additional 18,293,874 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in Arista Networks by 218.5% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,328,869,000 after acquiring an additional 14,454,822 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Arista Networks Stock Up 1.3%

Arista Networks stock traded up $1.32 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $102.45. 5,296,699 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,105,538. The stock has a market capitalization of $128.66 billion, a PE ratio of 43.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $95.50. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $59.43 and a 52 week high of $133.58.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The company had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan 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 plans are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ANET. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Arista Networks from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $106.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $73.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $112.00 target price for the company. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $109.33.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,168,748.32. The trade was a 86.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.18, for a total transaction of $705,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 123,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,915,273.12. This trade represents a 6.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,123,400 shares of company stock worth $113,159,520. 3.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.