Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Shares Sold by CenterBook Partners LP

CenterBook Partners LP decreased its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 80.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,054 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 68,261 shares during the quarter. CenterBook Partners LP’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $1,321,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the first quarter valued at $2,233,000. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 26.1% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 8,068,056 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $625,113,000 after purchasing an additional 1,670,902 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 5.2% during the first quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 12,363 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $958,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 4.1% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,723,613 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $520,946,000 after purchasing an additional 266,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. acquired a new position in Arista Networks during the first quarter valued at $9,534,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ANET opened at $139.26 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $174.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.77, a P/E/G ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $104.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.41. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $59.43 and a 52 week high of $141.01.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 40.90%. The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities 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 share buyback program on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to buy up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 864 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.68, for a total transaction of $99,083.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,460 shares in the company, valued at $855,512.80. This represents a 10.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.01, for a total value of $936,080.00. Following the sale, the director owned 57,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,761,305.84. The trade was a 12.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,443,742 shares of company stock worth $395,523,885 in the last 90 days. 3.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on ANET. Wedbush began coverage on Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane lowered Arista Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $106.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. BNP Paribas lowered Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Citigroup upped their price target on Arista Networks from $123.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.07.

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.