Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Boosts Stock Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 148.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 132,632 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 79,322 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $38,461,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ANET. Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new position in Arista Networks during the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in 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. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Sandy Spring Bank raised its position in Arista Networks by 33.6% during the 4th quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 155 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp bought a new stake in Arista Networks during the 1st quarter valued at $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

NYSE:ANET traded up $5.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $319.21. 2,351,934 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,894,565. The company has a fifty day moving average of $330.65 and a 200 day moving average of $295.33. Arista Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.10 and a twelve month high of $376.50. The company has a market capitalization of $100.03 billion, a P/E 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 earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.20 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, Director Yvonne Wassenaar sold 223 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the director now owns 2,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,427.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Yvonne Wassenaar sold 223 shares of the company’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 sale, the director now owns 2,976 shares in the company, valued at $941,427.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.77, for a total value of $388,155.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 17,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,575,312.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 210,076 shares of company stock worth $68,928,479. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $320.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $302.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Arista Networks from $297.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.