Cetera Investment Advisers Has $21.36 Million Stock Holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 490.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 73,654 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 61,186 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Arista Networks were worth $21,358,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 872.7% in the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 107 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Sandy Spring Bank increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 33.6% in the fourth quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 155 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp bought a new position in Arista Networks in the 1st quarter worth approximately $37,000. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.91, for a total transaction of $97,867.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $706,518.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Arista Networks news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.70, for a total transaction of $7,414,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,550.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 356 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.91, for a total transaction of $97,867.96. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,570 shares in the company, valued at $706,518.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 205,116 shares of company stock valued at $67,657,035. 3.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ANET has been the subject of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $340.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. UBS Group increased 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.38.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

ANET stock traded down $19.30 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $319.34. 2,699,855 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,492,396. The firm has a market cap of $100.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.11. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $168.25 and a 1-year high of $376.50. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $332.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $297.66.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.38. Arista Networks had a net margin of 39.01% and a return on equity of 30.50%. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.66 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.41 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 7.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 7th that permits the company to repurchase $1.20 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.