Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. Acquires 8,126 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 14.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 64,891 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 8,126 shares during the quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $22,743,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ANET. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 20.3% in the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 36,329 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,535,000 after purchasing an additional 6,133 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 7.9% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the first quarter worth $1,405,000. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in Arista Networks during the first quarter valued at about $3,238,000. Finally, Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $662,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on ANET. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Arista Networks from $349.00 to $432.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $340.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Erste Group Bank reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Arista Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Arista Networks from $220.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $353.38.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of ANET traded up $0.93 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $345.62. The company had a trading volume of 1,168,311 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,388,544. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $168.25 and a 52-week high of $376.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $343.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $306.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $108.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.11.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $2.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.66 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 39.01% and a return on equity of 30.50%. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 7.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other news, SVP Marc Taxay sold 4,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.47, for a total transaction of $1,327,546.71. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 832 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.14, for a total transaction of $243,892.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 17,681 shares in the company, valued at $5,183,008.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Marc Taxay sold 4,493 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.47, for a total transaction of $1,327,546.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 126,704 shares of company stock worth $43,975,690. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

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.