Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Buys 28,500 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 12.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 252,584 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 28,500 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $19,570,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Clearstead Trust LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 2,455 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $190,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC now owns 7,960 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $617,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors increased its stake in Arista Networks by 31.3% during the 1st quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 525 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. PFG Advisors increased its stake in Arista Networks by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 5,061 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. increased its stake in Arista Networks by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,624 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 864 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.68, for a total transaction of $99,083.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $855,512.80. This trade represents a 10.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 192,979 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.67, for a total value of $26,953,376.93. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,623,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $785,465,112.07. This represents a 3.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,767,742 shares of company stock valued at $714,048,068 in the last quarter. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of ANET stock opened at $137.87 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $173.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $108.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $95.73. Arista Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $59.43 and a one year high of $141.99.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 40.90%. The business had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. UBS Group upped their price target on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $150.00 price target on Arista Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $138.07.

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.