Empirical Finance LLC Acquires 24,108 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 297.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,202 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,108 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $3,559,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 367.0% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 86,899 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,605,000 after acquiring an additional 68,290 shares during the period. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 846.4% during the 4th quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 10,789 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,193,000 after purchasing an additional 9,649 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 312.4% in the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 664 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 503 shares during the period. Forbes J M & Co. LLP grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 301.5% during the 4th quarter. Forbes J M & Co. LLP now owns 68,296 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,549,000 after buying an additional 51,284 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 301.9% during the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 23,269 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,572,000 after buying an additional 17,479 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of ANET opened at $118.52 on Friday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $60.08 and a 1 year high of $133.57. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $113.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $99.81. The firm has a market cap of $149.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.09.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.76 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.29% and a return on equity of 30.52%. The firm’s revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.41 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ANET shares. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $66.25 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.25 price target (up from $86.25) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, November 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com lowered Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Arista Networks from $92.25 to $106.25 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $105.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 71,036 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.06, for a total value of $7,107,506.98. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 70,724 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,076,289.82. The trade was a 50.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.29, for a total transaction of $8,663,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,405,171.04. This trade represents a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 255,832 shares of company stock valued at $28,538,497 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Company 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.