BDF Gestion Acquires Shares of 8,500 Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

BDF Gestion bought a new stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 8,500 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,979,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. Global Trust Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 2,948 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,033,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 13.5% during the 2nd quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,974 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,557,000 after purchasing an additional 3,915 shares during the period. CX Institutional lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 25.6% during the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 2,191 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $768,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the period. Cyr Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $742,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 33.3% in the 2nd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 132 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ANET shares. Erste Group Bank restated a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $302.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $325.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $353.38.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 20,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.07, for a total value of $6,241,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,620,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $505,803,056. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.07, for a total transaction of $6,241,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,620,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $505,803,056. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 14,416 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $326.03, for a total transaction of $4,700,048.48. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 252,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,284,103.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 185,066 shares of company stock worth $61,786,294. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ANET traded up $1.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $335.81. The company had a trading volume of 1,592,478 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,478,754. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $168.25 and a 12 month high of $376.50. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $333.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $299.52. The stock has a market cap of $105.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.77, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.11.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $2.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.38. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.50% and a net margin of 39.01%. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.66 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 7.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase 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 buy up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually 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.