Caxton Associates LP Has $18.95 Million Stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Caxton Associates LP boosted its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 301.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 171,463 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 128,785 shares during the quarter. Arista Networks accounts for approximately 0.6% of Caxton Associates LP's holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Caxton Associates LP's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $18,952,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 304.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $10,620,270,000 after purchasing an additional 72,311,318 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 44,269,572 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $2,665,829,000 after purchasing an additional 18,293,874 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 218.5% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,328,869,000 after acquiring an additional 14,454,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,397,833,000. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ANET has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $73.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $89.00 target price (up from $76.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut shares of Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $106.07.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of ANET stock traded up $0.89 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $87.34. 9,715,243 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,115,658. The firm has a market capitalization 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $59.43 and a 52 week high of $133.58. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $78.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $97.50.

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

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

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,168,748.32. This trade represents a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $12,988,391.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 92,641 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,697,137.08. This trade represents a 59.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 412,355 shares of company stock valued at $37,216,079. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.