Artemis Investment Management LLP Purchases New Holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Artemis Investment Management LLP purchased a new stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 30,022 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $2,326,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $10,620,270,000 after acquiring an additional 72,311,318 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 330.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $6,371,848,000 after acquiring an additional 44,269,572 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 277.5% during the 4th quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,016,207,000 after acquiring an additional 20,059,303 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 311.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,665,829,000 after acquiring an additional 18,293,874 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 218.5% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,328,869,000 after acquiring an additional 14,454,822 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of NYSE ANET opened at $99.37 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $124.81 billion, a PE ratio of 42.06, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.37. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $59.43 and a 1-year high of $133.58. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $89.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $95.66.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback 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 purchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on ANET shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $73.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $112.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Arista Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $109.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arista Networks news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,492 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 16.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,168,748.32. This trade represents a 86.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 161,690 shares of company stock valued at $14,525,085. Company insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

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.

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