Chicago Capital LLC Invests $1.70 Million in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Chicago Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 21,980 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,703,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 304.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 72,311,318 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew 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 worth $6,371,848,000 after purchasing an additional 44,269,572 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC grew 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 worth $3,016,207,000 after purchasing an additional 20,059,303 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 311.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,665,829,000 after purchasing an additional 18,293,874 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 218.5% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,328,869,000 after buying an additional 14,454,822 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on ANET. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on 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 restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $89.00 price target (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC initiated coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $107.38.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ANET opened at $89.67 on Wednesday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $59.43 and a one year high of $133.58. The company has a market cap of $112.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.96, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $86.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $96.24.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 40.72%. Arista Networks's revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.50 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Arista Networks announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,492 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.49, for a total value of $102,187.08. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $512,305.20. The trade was a 16.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.07, for a total value of $7,205,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares of the company's stock, 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 105,690 shares of company stock worth $9,360,205. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by 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.

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