Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Purchases Shares of 15,249 Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 15,249 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,685,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Caitlin John LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 174.7% during the fourth quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 239 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its position in Arista Networks by 335.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 248 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Arista Networks by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 264 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 264 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Millennium Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 300.0% during the 4th quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 260 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Marc Taxay sold 51,848 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total transaction of $4,593,214.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.03, for a total transaction of $712,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 147,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,157,209.52. The trade was a 5.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 412,355 shares of company stock valued at $37,216,079. Company insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ANET has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $89.00 price target (up from $76.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. KGI Securities cut shares of Arista Networks to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.14.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

ANET opened at $97.24 on Wednesday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $59.43 and a 1 year high of $133.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $79.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $97.25. The company has a market cap of $122.13 billion, a PE ratio of 43.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. The company had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to buy up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.