Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. bought a new stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 15,249 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,685,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. bought a new stake in Arista Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $242,000. GHE LLC boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 319.0% in the 4th quarter. GHE LLC now owns 28,368 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,136,000 after purchasing an additional 21,597 shares during the period. Colonial River Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 327.6% in the 4th quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC now owns 9,745 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,077,000 after purchasing an additional 7,466 shares during the period. Unified Investment Management bought a new stake in Arista Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $630,000. Finally, Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 257.6% in the 4th quarter. Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. now owns 76,950 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $8,505,000 after purchasing an additional 55,430 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.03, for a total value of $712,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 147,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,157,209.52. This trade represents a 5.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.88, for a total transaction of $12,988,391.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,697,137.08. The trade was a 59.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 410,867 shares of company stock worth $37,056,669. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on ANET shares. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. KGI Securities lowered Arista Networks to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Erste Group Bank lowered Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Arista Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $107.14.

Arista Networks Trading Up 0.2%

ANET stock traded up $0.24 during trading on Friday, hitting $96.31. 5,866,947 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,063,159. The stock has a market cap of $120.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. Arista Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $59.43 and a one year high of $133.58. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $97.21.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.