Clean Yield Group Buys 16,224 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Clean Yield Group increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 46.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 51,369 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 16,224 shares during the quarter. Arista Networks accounts for 1.3% of Clean Yield Group’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Clean Yield Group’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $3,980,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Arista Networks by 156.4% in the 1st quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,227 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $560,000 after purchasing an additional 4,408 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in Arista Networks by 37.7% in the 1st quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 9,340 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $724,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559 shares during the period. KFG Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Arista Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $476,000. First Affirmative Financial Network grew its stake in Arista Networks by 16.1% in the 1st quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 3,835 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 531 shares during the period. Finally, Intellectus Partners LLC grew its stake in Arista Networks by 12.6% in the 1st quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 8,226 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $637,000 after purchasing an additional 918 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ANET shares. Wedbush assumed coverage on Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group raised Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $107.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,168,748.32. This represents a 86.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.49, for a total transaction of $102,187.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $512,305.20. This trade represents a 16.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 105,690 shares of company stock worth $9,360,205. Insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of ANET opened at $97.29 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $96.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $122.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.37. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $59.43 and a 52-week high of $133.58.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. The business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.50 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.