Kelly Bodnar Battles Sells 864 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Stock

Key Points

• Kelly Bodnar Battles, a director at Arista Networks, sold 864 shares of the company's stock at an average price of $114.68, reducing his ownership by 10.38% to 7,460 shares valued at approximately $855,513.
• Arista Networks reported a 27.6% increase in quarterly revenue year-over-year, reaching $2 billion, and exceeded earnings per share estimates with $0.65 EPS compared to the expected $0.59.
• The company's board has initiated a $1.50 billion share repurchase program, indicating a belief that its shares are currently undervalued.

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 864 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.68, for a total transaction of $99,083.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,460 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $855,512.80. This represents a 10.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of ANET stock traded up $1.16 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $118.71. The company had a trading volume of 9,913,497 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,578,333. The stock has a market capitalization of $149.09 billion, a PE ratio of 50.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.40. Arista Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $59.43 and a fifty-two week high of $133.57. The company's fifty day moving average is $99.28 and its 200 day moving average is $94.67.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, May 6th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on ANET. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. KGI Securities cut Arista Networks to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Arista Networks in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Arista Networks from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Wedbush started coverage on Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $111.40.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 6,038 shares of the technology company's stock worth $618,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 2.3% in the second quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,338 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $444,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 2.3% in the second quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 4,508 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $461,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. XML Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 0.6% in the second quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 16,185 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,656,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hemington Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 28.2% in the second quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 459 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

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.

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