Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Shares Bought by Gabelli Funds LLC

Gabelli Funds LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 270.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 101,000 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 73,750 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $11,164,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 304.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,620,270,000 after buying an additional 72,311,318 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 330.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,371,848,000 after acquiring an additional 44,269,572 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 218.5% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,328,869,000 after purchasing an additional 14,454,822 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,397,833,000. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Arista Networks Price Performance

NYSE ANET opened at $71.94 on Thursday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $59.43 and a 12 month high of $133.58. The company has a market capitalization of $90.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.41, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.61.

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

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.61, for a total transaction of $9,248,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,500,155.36. This trade represents a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.02, for a total transaction of $896,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 155,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,450,923.68. This represents a 4.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 411,031 shares of company stock worth $39,364,943. 3.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on ANET. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $118.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Arista Networks from $121.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $104.29.

Arista Networks 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.