Bridgewater Associates LP Acquires 533,366 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Bridgewater Associates LP boosted its holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 381.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 673,054 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 533,366 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $74,393,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on ANET shares. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Erste Group Bank cut Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Arista Networks from $121.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $106.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.61, for a total value of $9,248,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,500,155.36. This trade represents a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Marc Taxay sold 51,848 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total transaction of $4,593,214.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 411,031 shares of company stock worth $39,364,943. 3.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Arista Networks Stock Up 1.1 %

Arista Networks stock opened at $73.50 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $87.90 and a 200-day moving average of $99.99. Arista Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $59.43 and a twelve month high of $133.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.69 billion, a PE ratio of 33.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.30.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released 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. 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks Company 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.