Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. Sells 1,760 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. lowered its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 75.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 560 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,760 shares during the period. Arista Networks comprises about 0.9% of Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $62,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 286.1% in the fourth quarter. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. now owns 2,583 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $286,000 after buying an additional 1,914 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc. bought a new stake in Arista Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $218,000. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. increased its position in Arista Networks by 327.4% in the 4th quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 35,908 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,969,000 after acquiring an additional 27,506 shares during the period. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 285.3% during the fourth quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp now owns 61,639 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,813,000 after acquiring an additional 45,643 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trust Investment Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 275.3% during the fourth quarter. Trust Investment Advisors now owns 2,342 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,718 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of Arista Networks stock opened at $86.87 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $101.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $101.98. Arista Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $60.08 and a one year high of $133.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $109.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.13, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.47, for a total value of $9,477,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,537,266.72. This represents a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.88, for a total value of $12,988,391.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,697,137.08. The trade was a 59.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 491,001 shares of company stock valued at $49,112,111. Corporate insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ANET. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com downgraded Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.00.

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.