Strategy Asset Managers LLC Acquires 5,093 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Strategy Asset Managers LLC grew its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 287.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,864 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 5,093 shares during the quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $759,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Arista Networks by 304.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,620,270,000 after purchasing an additional 72,311,318 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $1,397,833,000. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 293.2% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 6,750,793 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $746,165,000 after acquiring an additional 5,034,022 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 320.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,457,263 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $713,721,000 after acquiring an additional 4,919,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Arista Networks by 294.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,136,864 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $678,308,000 after purchasing an additional 4,579,622 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of ANET stock opened at $77.91 on Friday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $60.08 and a 12 month high of $133.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.25 billion, a PE ratio of 35.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $99.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.66.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $114.00.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total value of $159,409.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 8,128 shares in the company, valued at $870,752.64. This represents a 15.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.51, for a total transaction of $892,080.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 163,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,263,553.84. This trade represents a 4.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 491,001 shares of company stock valued at $49,112,111 over the last ninety days. 3.54% of the stock is currently 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.