DnB Asset Management AS Boosts Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

DnB Asset Management AS grew its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 325.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 194,029 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 148,377 shares during the quarter. DnB Asset Management AS’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $21,446,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth $242,000. GHE LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 319.0% during the 4th quarter. GHE LLC now owns 28,368 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,136,000 after purchasing an additional 21,597 shares in the last quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC raised its stake in Arista Networks by 327.6% in the 4th quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC now owns 9,745 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,077,000 after purchasing an additional 7,466 shares during the last quarter. Unified Investment Management purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $630,000. Finally, Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 257.6% during the 4th quarter. Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. now owns 76,950 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,505,000 after purchasing an additional 55,430 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.47, for a total transaction of $9,477,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,537,266.72. This represents a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was 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 owns 92,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,697,137.08. This trade represents a 59.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 491,001 shares of company stock worth $49,112,111 in the last quarter. 3.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of ANET opened at $77.91 on Friday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $60.08 and a 12 month high of $133.58. The stock has a market cap of $98.25 billion, a PE ratio of 35.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $99.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $101.66.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on ANET shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group upgraded Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $112.00 to $115.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Citigroup raised their price target on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $108.00 price objective (up previously from $106.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $114.00.

About Arista Networks

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.