Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 69.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,920 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 4,388 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $453,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ANET. Sandy Spring Bank increased its stake in Arista Networks by 33.6% in the fourth quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 155 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC now owns 2,255 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $531,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc. increased its stake in Arista Networks by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,267 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,839 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, PDS Planning Inc increased its stake in Arista Networks by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 1,376 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $324,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Trading Up 6.5 %

NYSE ANET opened at $291.67 on Thursday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $133.42 and a 12-month high of $307.74. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $279.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $251.25. The stock has a market cap of $91.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.13.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The technology company reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.44% and a net margin of 35.62%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.25 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 6.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase 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 reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays increased their price target on Arista Networks from $272.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Arista Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $240.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Arista Networks from $268.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on Arista Networks from $306.00 to $349.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.77, for a total value of $388,155.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 17,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,575,312.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.77, for a total value of $388,155.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 17,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,575,312.37. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.83, for a total value of $511,660.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 56,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,568,495.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 337,054 shares of company stock valued at $96,529,086 over the last quarter. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.