Brevan Howard Capital Management LP Acquires 93,921 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Brevan Howard Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 2,444.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 97,763 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 93,921 shares during the period. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $10,806,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Caitlin John LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 174.7% during the 4th quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 239 shares of the technology company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 335.1% in 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 during the last quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 300.0% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 300.0% during 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 grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 300.0% during 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ANET traded up $0.89 during trading on Thursday, hitting $87.34. The company had a trading volume of 9,715,243 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,115,658. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $59.43 and a 52 week high of $133.58. The business's 50-day moving average is $78.89 and its 200 day moving average is $97.50. The company has a market cap of $109.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.34, a PEG 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, topping 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 company had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. Arista Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.88, for a total transaction of $12,988,391.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,641 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,697,137.08. The trade was a 59.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,492 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.49, for a total transaction of $102,187.08. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,480 shares of the company's stock, valued at $512,305.20. This trade represents a 16.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 412,355 shares of company stock worth $37,216,079 over the last ninety days. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Erste Group Bank lowered Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group raised shares of Arista Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $112.00 to $115.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $106.07.

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.