Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Has $306.28 Million Stock Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD decreased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 43.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,056,208 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 808,313 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.34% of Arista Networks worth $306,280,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the first quarter worth $26,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 872.7% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 107 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp bought a new position in Arista Networks during the first quarter worth $37,000. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the first quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the 1st quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Trading Up 1.6 %

ANET stock traded up $5.09 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $319.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,351,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,894,565. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $330.65 and its 200-day moving average is $295.33. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.10 and a 12 month high of $376.50. The company has a market cap of $100.03 billion, a PE ratio of 44.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.11.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.24. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.12% and a net margin of 37.64%. The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. Analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan 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 plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Arista Networks news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.83, for a total value of $511,660.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 56,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,568,495.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Yvonne Wassenaar sold 223 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.34, for a total transaction of $70,543.82. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $941,427.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.83, for a total transaction of $511,660.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 56,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,568,495.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 210,076 shares of company stock valued at $68,928,479 in the last 90 days. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on ANET. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $302.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Arista Networks from $340.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI boosted their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised Arista Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $240.00 to $320.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Arista Networks from $311.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $333.12.

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.