SouthState Corp Acquires 2,703 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

SouthState Corp lifted its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 300.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,604 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,703 shares during the quarter. SouthState Corp’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $398,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ANET. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 5,034,022 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 320.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 294.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,136,864 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $678,308,000 after acquiring an additional 4,579,622 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Arista Networks by 292.8% in the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 6,053,181 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $674,627,000 after acquiring an additional 4,512,166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 196.3% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 6,342,064 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $732,493,000 after purchasing an additional 4,201,973 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ANET. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $108.00 price target (up from $106.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $114.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.85, for a total transaction of $6,788,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,101,013.60. This represents a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.02, for a total transaction of $896,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 155,784 shares in the company, 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 491,001 shares of company stock worth $49,112,111. 3.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ANET opened at $85.06 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $105.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $101.92. The company has a market capitalization of $107.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $60.08 and a 1-year high of $133.58.

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