Bell Asset Management Ltd Boosts Stock Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Bell Asset Management Ltd raised its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 177.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 44,592 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 28,546 shares during the quarter. Bell Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $4,929,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Caitlin John LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 174.7% during the fourth quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 239 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 335.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 248 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 300.0% during the 4th quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 264 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 264 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. Finally, New Millennium Group LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 260 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Trading Down 9.8 %

Shares of Arista Networks stock opened at $64.28 on Monday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $57.80 and a 12-month high of $133.58. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $94.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $101.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $81.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.96, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.30.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ANET. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Erste Group Bank downgraded Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” 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 issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.88, for a total value of $12,988,391.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 92,641 shares in the company, valued at $8,697,137.08. This represents a 59.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.02, for a total value of $896,160.00. Following the transaction, the director now 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 411,001 shares of company stock worth $39,362,831. 3.54% of the stock is owned by company 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.