Choate Investment Advisors Raises Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Choate Investment Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 335.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,833 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,723 shares during the period. Choate Investment Advisors’ holdings in Arista Networks were worth $534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Swedbank AB lifted 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 buying an additional 5,034,022 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 320.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,457,263 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $713,721,000 after acquiring an additional 4,919,882 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Arista Networks by 294.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,136,864 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $678,308,000 after purchasing an additional 4,579,622 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Arista Networks by 292.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 4,512,166 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 196.3% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 6,342,064 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $732,493,000 after purchasing an additional 4,201,973 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.88, for a total transaction of $12,988,391.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,697,137.08. The trade was a 59.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.51, for a total value of $892,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 163,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,263,553.84. This represents a 4.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 491,001 shares of company stock valued at $49,112,111. 3.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Arista Networks Price Performance

NYSE ANET opened at $83.58 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $105.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $101.94. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $60.08 and a 1 year high of $133.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $105.41 billion, a PE ratio of 37.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ANET shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “sell” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.00.

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.