Balyasny Asset Management L.P. Purchases 1,893,268 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 427.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,336,033 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 1,893,268 shares during the period. Arista Networks makes up 0.4% of Balyasny Asset Management L.P.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. owned about 0.19% of Arista Networks worth $258,202,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 304.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company's stock worth $10,620,270,000 after purchasing an additional 72,311,318 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Arista Networks by 330.9% in the fourth 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in 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 worth $2,665,829,000 after purchasing an additional 18,293,874 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 218.5% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,328,869,000 after buying an additional 14,454,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Arista Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $1,397,833,000. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ANET has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Erste Group Bank downgraded Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group raised Arista Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $112.00 to $115.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $108.36.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of ANET stock traded up $0.72 on Tuesday, reaching $91.10. 14,128,172 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,192,759. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $79.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $97.58. The stock has a market cap of $114.38 billion, a PE ratio of 41.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. Arista Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $59.43 and a one year high of $133.58.

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

Arista Networks declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.58, for a total value of $708,640.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 131,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,673,426.72. This represents a 5.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 92,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,697,137.08. This trade represents a 59.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 412,355 shares of company stock valued at $39,259,279. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.