GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC Grows Stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,420 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $1,900,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 872.7% in the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 107 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ANET shares. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $302.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $340.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $325.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $353.38.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Arista Networks stock traded up $2.46 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $348.65. The company had a trading volume of 1,681,514 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,456,726. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $168.25 and a 12-month high of $376.50. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $336.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $301.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $109.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.22, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback 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 reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 216 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.02, for a total value of $69,988.32. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $883,278.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 17,759 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.15, for a total value of $5,667,784.85. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 17,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,642,891.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 216 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.02, for a total transaction of $69,988.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $883,278.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 140,066 shares of company stock worth $47,619,894 in the last ninety days. 3.54% 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.