Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET Stake Trimmed by Marietta Investment Partners LLC

Marietta Investment Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 6.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 97,262 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 6,761 shares during the quarter. Arista Networks accounts for about 2.7% of Marietta Investment Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Marietta Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $14,172,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its position in Arista Networks by 56.7% in the third quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 199 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 141.3% during the 3rd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 222 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Bare Financial Services Inc raised its stake in Arista Networks by 2,118.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 244 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares during the period. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its stake in Arista Networks by 979.2% in the 3rd quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 259 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the period. Finally, Guerra Advisors Inc purchased a new stake in Arista Networks during the third quarter valued at about $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

NYSE:ANET opened at $139.16 on Friday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $59.43 and a 52-week high of $164.94. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $134.43 and a 200 day moving average of $137.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $174.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.46.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The technology company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.07. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.37% and a net margin of 38.99%.The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 28.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.44, for a total transaction of $4,558,080.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,848,301.44. This represents a 71.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.43, for a total transaction of $1,123,440.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,784 shares in the company, valued at $1,373,967.12. This trade represents a 44.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 196,237 shares of company stock valued at $25,865,760 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $188.00 price target (up from $165.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Arista Networks from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Arista Networks from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $176.88.

Arista Networks Company Profile

Arista Networks, Inc is a technology company that designs and sells cloud networking solutions for large-scale data centers and enterprise environments. The company is best known for its high-performance switching and routing platforms, which are used to build scalable, low-latency networks for cloud service providers, internet companies, financial services, telecommunications, and enterprise IT. Arista’s offerings emphasize programmability, automation and telemetry to support modern, software-driven network architectures.

Central to Arista’s product portfolio is its Extensible Operating System (EOS), a modular network operating system that provides consistent programmability, stateful control and advanced visibility across the company’s hardware platforms.