Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV Boosts Stock Holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 56.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,123 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,495 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $1,445,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,494,876 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,946,338,000 after buying an additional 1,596,040 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,136,348 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,387,211,000 after buying an additional 55,312 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,049,416 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $884,270,000 after buying an additional 25,196 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $881,848,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $586,051,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.70, for a total value of $7,414,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,550.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.70, for a total value of $7,414,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,550.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 216 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.02, for a total transaction of $69,988.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $883,278.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 128,296 shares of company stock valued at $44,532,174 in the last three months. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Arista Networks Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE:ANET traded up $6.79 during trading on Friday, hitting $353.38. 1,547,242 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,371,974. The company has a market cap of $110.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $343.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $307.90. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $168.25 and a 52-week high of $376.50.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $2.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.66 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 39.01% and a return on equity of 30.50%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.41 EPS. 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 stock repurchase program on Tuesday, May 7th that allows the company to buyback $1.20 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ANET shares. UBS Group raised their price target 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. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $340.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $320.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $320.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.38.

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.