MetLife Investment Management LLC Buys 102,135 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 129.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 180,850 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 102,135 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $19,989,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 304.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,620,270,000 after purchasing an additional 72,311,318 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 330.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,371,848,000 after buying an additional 44,269,572 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Arista Networks by 311.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,665,829,000 after acquiring an additional 18,293,874 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 14,454,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $1,397,833,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

NYSE ANET opened at $71.11 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $84.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $99.29. Arista Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $59.43 and a one year high of $133.58. The company has a market capitalization of $89.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.30.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on ANET. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Arista Networks from $118.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $121.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. One 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.88, for a total value of $12,988,391.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 92,641 shares in the company, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total transaction of $159,409.44. Following the transaction, the director now owns 8,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $870,752.64. This trade represents a 15.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 411,031 shares of company stock valued at $39,364,943 over the last ninety days. 3.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.