Northwest Bank & Trust Co Makes New Investment in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Northwest Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 800 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $188,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 7.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,763 shares during the period. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $662,000. AXQ Capital LP bought a new position in Arista Networks during the third quarter valued at about $791,000. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 42,809 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,082,000 after acquiring an additional 2,535 shares during the period. Finally, Advisor Resource Council grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 507.9% during the 4th quarter. Advisor Resource Council now owns 7,021 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,653,000 after purchasing an additional 5,866 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Arista Networks Price Performance

ANET traded down $3.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $328.50. The stock had a trading volume of 2,147,959 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,166,285. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $290.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $270.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $102.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.08. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $148.32 and a 1-year high of $331.75.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.24. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.12% and a net margin of 37.64%. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 7.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback 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 purchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.26, for a total transaction of $592,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 58,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,463,341.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Arista Networks news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.26, for a total value of $592,520.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 58,946 shares in the company, valued at $17,463,341.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 832 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 17,681 shares in the company, valued at $5,183,008.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 299,950 shares of company stock worth $89,972,030 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ANET has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Erste Group Bank reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Arista Networks from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $268.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $298.17.

Arista Networks 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.