Vident Advisory LLC Boosts Stock Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Vident Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 493.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 141,682 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 117,806 shares during the quarter. Vident Advisory LLC’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $15,660,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ANET. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 361.6% in the 4th quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 6,781 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $750,000 after acquiring an additional 5,312 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 863.1% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 24,242 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,679,000 after buying an additional 21,725 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $224,000. Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its position in Arista Networks by 422.8% during the 4th quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 12,039 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,331,000 after buying an additional 9,736 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 294.4% during the 4th quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,585 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $949,000 after buying an additional 6,408 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John F. Mccool sold 17,433 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.14, for a total value of $1,623,709.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 17,433 shares in the company, valued at $1,623,709.62. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,168,748.32. This trade represents a 86.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 410,867 shares of company stock worth $37,056,669. 3.39% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Arista Networks Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of ANET opened at $96.31 on Monday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $59.43 and a 52 week high of $133.58. The company has a market capitalization of $120.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.38, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $80.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.20.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. The company’s revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ANET. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $89.00 target price (up from $76.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Thursday. Finally, KGI Securities lowered Arista Networks to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $107.14.

About Arista Networks

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.