Eastern Bank Buys New Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Eastern Bank purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 148,812 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,530,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 381.5% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 260 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 415.7% during the 4th quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 263 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the period. McIlrath & Eck LLC bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, HighMark Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 179.7% during the 1st quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 358 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 748,444 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.43, for a total value of $76,663,118.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 30,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,072,900. This represents a 96.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,168,748.32. This trade represents a 86.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,239,440 shares of company stock valued at $126,362,429. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Arista Networks stock opened at $118.71 on Wednesday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $59.43 and a 52 week high of $133.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $149.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $99.74 and a 200-day moving average of $94.84.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 40.72%. The company had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. Arista Networks’s 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 year.

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ANET has been the subject of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp initiated coverage on Arista Networks in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. KGI Securities downgraded Arista Networks to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $112.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 target price for the company. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Arista Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $106.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $111.40.

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.