Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) is Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY's 4th Largest Position

Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY increased its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 291.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,756,449 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 2,051,770 shares during the quarter. Arista Networks makes up 5.0% of Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY's holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY owned about 0.22% of Arista Networks worth $304,670,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. LifeWealth Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $220,000. Virtue Capital Management LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 488.6% during the 4th quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC now owns 3,720 shares of the technology company's stock worth $411,000 after buying an additional 3,088 shares during the period. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Arista Networks during the 4th quarter worth $164,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 111.9% in the fourth quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 13,205 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,460,000 after purchasing an additional 6,974 shares during the period. Finally, Armis Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth $430,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on ANET shares. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. KGI Securities lowered Arista Networks to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Arista Networks from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $107.47.

Insider Activity

In other Arista Networks news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.58, for a total value of $708,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 131,784 shares in the company, valued at $11,673,426.72. The trade was a 5.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 237,538 shares of company stock worth $20,748,219 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.54% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE ANET traded up $0.12 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $86.49. 16,490,789 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,049,411. The stock has a market cap of $108.62 billion, a PE ratio of 38.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $81.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $96.60. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $59.43 and a 52 week high of $133.58.

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

Arista Networks announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits 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 management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.