Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Shares Acquired by HM Payson & Co.

HM Payson & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 3,173.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,321 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,189 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $478,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,237,635 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,313,229,000 after purchasing an additional 411,109 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 293.2% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 6,750,793 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $746,165,000 after purchasing an additional 5,034,022 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 320.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,457,263 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $713,721,000 after acquiring an additional 4,919,882 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 294.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,136,864 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $678,308,000 after acquiring an additional 4,579,622 shares during the period. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 292.8% during the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 6,053,181 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $674,627,000 after acquiring an additional 4,512,166 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ANET has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays raised their target price on Arista Networks from $125.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group upgraded Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.88, for a total transaction of $12,988,391.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 92,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,697,137.08. The trade was a 59.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.03, for a total value of $712,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 147,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,157,209.52. This trade represents a 5.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 411,289 shares of company stock worth $42,355,417 over the last 90 days. 3.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Arista Networks Stock Down 1.2 %

ANET stock opened at $83.31 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $108.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $102.08. The stock has a market cap of $105.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.53, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08. Arista Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $60.08 and a fifty-two week high of $133.57.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

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.