Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Shares Bought by Woodline Partners LP

Woodline Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 886.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 411,874 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 370,110 shares during the quarter. Woodline Partners LP's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $45,524,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 304.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 72,311,318 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 330.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $6,371,848,000 after purchasing an additional 44,269,572 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 277.5% during the fourth quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,016,207,000 after purchasing an additional 20,059,303 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $2,665,829,000 after purchasing an additional 18,293,874 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 218.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 14,454,822 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.88, for a total value of $12,988,391.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 92,641 shares in the company, valued at $8,697,137.08. The trade was a 59.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Marc Taxay sold 51,848 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total transaction of $4,593,214.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 410,755 shares of company stock valued at $37,043,825. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Arista Networks Stock Down 1.5%

ANET stock traded down $1.37 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $91.19. 7,449,715 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,986,287. The firm has a market capitalization of $114.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.08, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $81.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.97. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $59.43 and a 12-month high of $133.58.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. The business had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ANET. Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $89.00 target price (up from $76.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley increased 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. UBS Group upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $107.14.

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.