Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Buys 923,128 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 362.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,177,522 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 923,128 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned about 0.09% of Arista Networks worth $130,152,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Caitlin John LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 174.7% in 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 period. 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 valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 300.0% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, New Millennium Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 300.0% in the 4th 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 last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.07, for a total transaction of $7,205,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,168,748.32. The trade was a 86.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing 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 on 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. Insiders sold a total of 412,355 shares of company stock worth $37,216,079 in the last three months. Insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ANET. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on Arista Networks from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group upgraded Arista Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $112.00 to $115.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. KGI Securities lowered Arista Networks to a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $73.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $106.07.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Arista Networks stock traded down $1.12 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $86.15. The stock had a trading volume of 8,267,268 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,055,203. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $78.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.29. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $59.43 and a 1-year high of $133.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $108.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. The business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. Arista Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.