Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Shares Acquired by Lafayette Investments Inc.

Lafayette Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 254.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 29,086 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 20,872 shares during the period. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $3,215,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 304.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,620,270,000 after acquiring an additional 72,311,318 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Arista Networks by 330.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,371,848,000 after purchasing an additional 44,269,572 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 311.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,665,829,000 after purchasing an additional 18,293,874 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 218.5% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,328,869,000 after buying an additional 14,454,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,397,833,000. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on ANET. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Arista Networks from $118.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $121.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “sell” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.61, for a total transaction of $9,248,800.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,500,155.36. The trade was a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.02, for a total value of $896,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 155,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,450,923.68. This represents a 4.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 411,031 shares of company stock valued at $39,364,943. 3.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ANET opened at $73.50 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.11, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.30. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $59.43 and a 1-year high of $133.58. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $87.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $99.99.

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

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.