State of Michigan Retirement System Increases Stock Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

State of Michigan Retirement System raised its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 38.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 100,589 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,700 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $29,169,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Arista Networks by 5.7% during the fourth 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 during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Arista Networks by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,136,348 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,387,211,000 after purchasing an additional 55,312 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,024,220 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $716,649,000 after purchasing an additional 16,081 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth approximately $586,051,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,807,494 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $425,683,000 after buying an additional 14,627 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of Arista Networks stock traded up $0.16 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $356.86. 1,577,828 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,509,138. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.10 and a 1 year high of $363.28. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $305.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $280.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $111.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.71, a PEG ratio of 3.09 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 net margin of 37.64% and a return on equity of 31.12%. The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 7.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, May 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.20 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $347.00, for a total transaction of $8,675,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,600,800 shares in the company, valued at $555,477,600. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $347.00, for a total transaction of $8,675,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,600,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $555,477,600. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Yvonne Wassenaar sold 223 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.34, for a total value of $70,543.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,427.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 210,330 shares of company stock worth $65,582,187 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ANET shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Arista Networks from $306.00 to $349.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $320.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $311.50.

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.