Ballentine Partners LLC Has $661,000 Holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Ballentine Partners LLC increased its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 21.6% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,280 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 405 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $661,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised 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 acquiring an additional 3,763 shares in the last quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $662,000. AXQ Capital LP bought a new position in Arista Networks in the third quarter valued at approximately $791,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in 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 purchasing 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 fourth quarter. Advisor Resource Council now owns 7,021 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,653,000 after buying an additional 5,866 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Stock Down 1.9 %

ANET stock traded down $6.25 during trading on Monday, hitting $331.11. The company had a trading volume of 187,510 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,514,038. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $295.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $275.67. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $149.09 and a 52-week high of $345.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $103.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.99, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.08.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 7.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, May 7th that permits the company to repurchase $1.20 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, SVP Marc Taxay sold 1,040 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.28, for a total transaction of $303,971.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider John F. Mccool sold 416 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.54, for a total value of $105,888.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Marc Taxay sold 1,040 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.28, for a total transaction of $303,971.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 235,950 shares of company stock valued at $71,801,440. 3.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on ANET. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Arista Networks from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Erste Group Bank restated a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $311.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $313.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Arista Networks from $320.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $306.78.

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.