Securian Asset Management Inc. Lowers Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Securian Asset Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 1.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 54,645 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 874 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $4,234,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. HighMark Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its stake in Arista Networks by 381.5% in 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 period. Dunhill Financial LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks by 415.7% in the 4th quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 263 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the period. Cloud Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.23, for a total transaction of $2,397,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 592,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,637,052. The trade was a 4.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.36, for a total value of $794,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 65,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,536,298.24. This trade represents a 10.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,123,370 shares of company stock valued at $113,157,408. Company insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wedbush assumed coverage on Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Arista Networks in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Arista Networks from $112.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $110.07.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Arista Networks stock opened at $108.49 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $136.25 billion, a PE ratio of 45.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.40. Arista Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $59.43 and a one year high of $133.58. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $95.42 and a 200 day moving average of $94.81.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted 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 company had revenue of $2 billion during 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%. Arista Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to repurchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are 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.