Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Buys 28,500 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Key Points

• The Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. by 12.7%, acquiring an additional 28,500 shares, bringing its total holdings to 252,584 shares valued at approximately $19.57 million.
• Arista Networks reported earnings of $0.73 per share for the last quarter, surpassing expectations and marking a 30.4% year-over-year revenue growth to $2.20 billion.
• Several analysts have upgraded their price targets for Arista Networks, with the consensus rating now a “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $138.07.

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 12.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 252,584 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 28,500 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $19,570,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in ANET. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 321.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,806 shares of the technology company's stock worth $863,000 after acquiring an additional 5,955 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $202,000. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 433.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 10,856 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,200,000 after purchasing an additional 8,822 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 240.4% during the 4th quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,989 shares of the technology company's stock worth $441,000 after purchasing an additional 2,817 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 285.8% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 10,065 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,112,000 after purchasing an additional 7,456 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 1,785,165 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.22, for a total value of $243,175,176.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,698,074 shares in the company, valued at $776,191,640.28. This trade represents a 23.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,767,742 shares of company stock valued at $714,048,068. 3.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

ANET traded up $0.75 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $137.23. The stock had a trading volume of 6,054,998 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,893,038. The stock has a market capitalization of $172.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.37. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $109.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $96.20. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $59.43 and a 52 week high of $141.99.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 40.90%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 6th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. BNP Paribas cut Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Arista Networks from $106.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Evercore ISI set a $150.00 price target on Arista Networks and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Arista Networks from $123.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned 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 price target of $138.07.

About Arista Networks

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.