Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Increases Stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. grew its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,420 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $2,732,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,405,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 3,763 shares during the last quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Arista Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $662,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 32.5% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 26,799 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,810,000 after acquiring an additional 6,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 6.3% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Price Performance

NYSE:ANET traded down $2.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $330.59. 1,354,089 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,446,170. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $149.10 and a 12-month high of $376.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $103.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.04, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $329.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $291.65.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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. As a group, analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 7.06 EPS for the current year.

Arista Networks declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.20 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to buy up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Arista Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $240.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Arista Networks from $340.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Arista Networks from $320.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $323.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In related news, insider John F. Mccool sold 416 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.54, for a total value of $105,888.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider John F. Mccool sold 416 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.54, for a total transaction of $105,888.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $511,660.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 56,946 shares in the company, valued at $14,568,495.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 210,076 shares of company stock worth $68,928,479 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

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.