Factory Mutual Insurance Co. Acquires 175,400 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• Factory Mutual Insurance Co. more than doubled its stake in Arista, buying 175,400 shares (+114.6%) to hold 328,420 shares worth $43.03 million at quarter-end.
• Analysts are broadly bullish — several firms raised price targets (Needham and Wells Fargo to $185) and the consensus rating is a "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $176.44.
• Insiders have been net sellers recently, disposing of 199,632 shares (including Kenneth Duda's 32,000-share sale worth ~$4.29 million), even as Arista reported an EPS beat and revenue growth of 28.9% year-over-year.

Factory Mutual Insurance Co. increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 114.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 328,420 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 175,400 shares during the period. Factory Mutual Insurance Co.'s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $43,033,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ANET. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 56.7% during the 3rd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 199 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 141.3% during the 3rd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 222 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ANET. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $184.00 price objective (up from $183.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Arista Networks from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. TD Cowen began coverage on Arista Networks in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Arista Networks from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Arista Networks has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $176.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arista Networks news, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total transaction of $4,292,480.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,740,600.64. The trade was a 71.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Yvonne Wassenaar sold 1,815 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.44, for a total value of $240,378.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 12,574 shares in the company, valued at $1,665,300.56. This trade represents a 12.61% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 199,632 shares of company stock valued at $26,873,604 in the last 90 days. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

NYSE ANET opened at $147.27 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $185.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.36, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.48. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $133.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.91. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $66.59 and a 52 week high of $164.94.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The technology company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.38 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.37% and a net margin of 38.99%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 28.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Arista Networks Profile

Arista Networks, Inc is a technology company that designs and sells cloud networking solutions for large-scale data centers and enterprise environments. The company is best known for its high-performance switching and routing platforms, which are used to build scalable, low-latency networks for cloud service providers, internet companies, financial services, telecommunications, and enterprise IT. Arista's offerings emphasize programmability, automation and telemetry to support modern, software-driven network architectures.

Central to Arista's product portfolio is its Extensible Operating System (EOS), a modular network operating system that provides consistent programmability, stateful control and advanced visibility across the company's hardware platforms.

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