Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Shares Acquired by New Century Financial Group LLC

New Century Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 7.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,436 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the period. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $706,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 51,301 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,082,000 after buying an additional 3,763 shares during the last quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $662,000. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 42,809 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,082,000 after buying an additional 2,535 shares during the last quarter. Advisor Resource Council grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 507.9% during the fourth quarter. Advisor Resource Council now owns 7,021 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,653,000 after buying an additional 5,866 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,024,220 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $716,649,000 after buying an additional 16,081 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Arista Networks Trading Up 2.4 %

ANET stock traded up $8.41 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $365.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,210,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,265,628. The stock has a market cap of $114.51 billion, a PE ratio of 50.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.11. Arista Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.10 and a fifty-two week high of $365.42. The company’s 50 day moving average is $309.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $282.02.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 37.64% and a return on equity of 31.12%. On average, analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 7.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, May 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.20 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.00, for a total value of $7,925,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,615,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $512,208,600. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.00, for a total value of $7,925,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,615,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $512,208,600. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Marc Taxay sold 624 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.71, for a total transaction of $221,339.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 214,118 shares of company stock worth $68,528,038. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ANET shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $297.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $320.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $311.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $311.50.

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.