Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Sells 661 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund cut its holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 7.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,316 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 661 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $2,411,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,494,876 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,946,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596,040 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Arista Networks by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,136,348 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,387,211,000 after buying an additional 55,312 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,049,416 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $884,270,000 after acquiring an additional 25,196 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the first quarter valued at about $881,848,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $586,051,000. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.70, for a total transaction of $7,414,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,202,550.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Arista Networks news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 20,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.70, for a total value of $7,414,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,550.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Yvonne Wassenaar sold 223 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.34, for a total value of $70,543.82. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,976 shares in the company, valued at $941,427.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 210,076 shares of company stock worth $68,928,479 over the last quarter. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Arista Networks Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE:ANET traded up $5.09 on Friday, reaching $319.21. 2,351,934 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,894,565. The company has a market capitalization of $100.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.46, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.11. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.10 and a 12 month high of $376.50. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $330.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $295.33.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.24. Arista Networks had a net margin of 37.64% and a return on equity of 31.12%. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.20 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ANET. Erste Group Bank reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $297.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. 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 research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $240.00 to $320.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks 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.