Vontobel Holding Ltd. Trims Holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. decreased its stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 13.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 64,145 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 10,263 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $15,107,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. raised its position in Arista Networks by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. now owns 30,780 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,249,000 after purchasing an additional 1,569 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $3,580,000. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its position in Arista Networks by 0.5% in 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. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC purchased a new stake in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $217,000. Finally, Simplicity Solutions LLC raised its position in Arista Networks by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 4,445 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

NYSE:ANET opened at $263.20 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $281.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $243.39. The stock has a market cap of $82.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.09. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.68 and a 1 year high of $307.74.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The technology company reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.44% and a net margin of 35.62%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.25 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on ANET. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Melius Research upgraded Arista Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, January 8th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Arista Networks from $230.00 to $272.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Arista Networks from $232.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.59.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.05, for a total transaction of $5,801,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $940,922.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Arista Networks news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.05, for a total transaction of $5,801,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $940,922.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 4,042 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.99, for a total value of $1,212,559.58. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,628,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $488,543,314.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 361,036 shares of company stock worth $102,813,921 in the last quarter. 18.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.