Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Shares Purchased by Old Port Advisors

Old Port Advisors lifted its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,024 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the quarter. Old Port Advisors’ holdings in Arista Networks were worth $359,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the first quarter worth approximately $26,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in Arista Networks by 872.7% in the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 107 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the second quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the second quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ANET has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Arista Networks from $325.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Erste Group Bank restated a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Bank of America raised their price target on Arista Networks from $320.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Citigroup raised their price target on Arista Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $349.00 to $432.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $353.38.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of ANET traded down $2.71 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $353.89. 1,262,691 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,441,793. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $339.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $302.92. Arista Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $168.25 and a twelve month high of $376.50. The company has a market capitalization of $110.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.29, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.11.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.38. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.50% and a net margin of 39.01%. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.66 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.41 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 7.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 7th that permits the company to buyback $1.20 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to buy up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 216 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.02, for a total transaction of $69,988.32. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $883,278.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Arista Networks news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 216 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.02, for a total value of $69,988.32. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $883,278.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Yvonne Wassenaar sold 223 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.34, for a total value of $70,543.82. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,427.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 125,650 shares of company stock valued at $42,919,845 over the last quarter. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.