BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Raises Holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 360.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 204,530 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 160,087 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $22,607,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 469.4% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 4,208 shares of the technology company's stock worth $465,000 after acquiring an additional 3,469 shares during the last quarter. First Heartland Consultants Inc. grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 300.0% during the fourth quarter. First Heartland Consultants Inc. now owns 2,376 shares of the technology company's stock worth $263,000 after acquiring an additional 1,782 shares during the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 91.4% during the fourth quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 626 shares of the technology company's stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $215,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 278.4% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,641,326 shares of the technology company's stock worth $955,126,000 after acquiring an additional 6,357,753 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Price Performance

NYSE:ANET traded down $1.37 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $91.19. The company had a trading volume of 7,449,715 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,986,287. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $59.43 and a 1-year high of $133.58. The firm has a market cap of $114.52 billion, a PE ratio of 41.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. The business's 50 day moving average price is $81.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.03.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. Arista Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, 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 authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ANET shares. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Erste Group Bank lowered Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Barclays dropped their price target on Arista Networks from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. 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. Finally, UBS Group raised 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $107.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.07, for a total transaction of $7,205,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,168,748.32. This represents a 86.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John F. Mccool sold 17,433 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.14, for a total value of $1,623,709.62. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,433 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,623,709.62. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 410,755 shares of company stock valued at $37,043,825. 3.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Arista Networks Company 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.