DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main Buys 3,157,989 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 232.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,518,916 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,157,989 shares during the quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $499,476,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Caitlin John LLC lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 174.7% in the fourth quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 239 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 335.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 248 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. New Millennium Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 260 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 381.5% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 260 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC grew its position in Arista Networks by 415.7% during the fourth quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 263 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group raised Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective 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, Erste Group Bank cut shares of Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $106.57.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 92,641 shares in the company, valued at $8,697,137.08. The trade was a 59.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.58, for a total transaction of $708,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 131,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,673,426.72. This trade represents a 5.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 332,355 shares of company stock worth $30,010,479 in the last three months. Insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Trading Down 4.7 %

Shares of Arista Networks stock opened at $86.51 on Thursday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $59.43 and a 12 month high of $133.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $78.89 and a 200 day moving average of $97.50. The firm has a market cap of $108.62 billion, a PE ratio of 38.97, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. Arista Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast 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 stock buyback plan on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.