Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Takes Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,827 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. DSG Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth $5,984,000. Ibex Wealth Advisors boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 14.4% in the 1st quarter. Ibex Wealth Advisors now owns 58,093 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,501,000 after purchasing an additional 7,329 shares in the last quarter. GHE LLC boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 319.0% in the 4th quarter. GHE LLC now owns 28,368 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,136,000 after purchasing an additional 21,597 shares in the last quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC grew its stake in Arista Networks by 327.6% during the 4th quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC now owns 9,745 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,077,000 after buying an additional 7,466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Unified Investment Management acquired a new position in Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $630,000. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.55, for a total transaction of $620,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 139,784 shares in the company, valued at $10,840,249.20. This trade represents a 5.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 86.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 161,690 shares of company stock worth $14,525,085 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on ANET. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $89.00 price target (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. KGI Securities downgraded shares of Arista Networks to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Wedbush began coverage on Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $108.20.

Arista Networks Price Performance

NYSE:ANET opened at $86.18 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $87.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $95.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.48, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.37. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $59.43 and a 1-year high of $133.58.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 40.72%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate 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 authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.