Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Buys 1,835,421 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 306.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,433,425 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,835,421 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $268,966,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ANET. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,237,635 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,313,229,000 after acquiring an additional 411,109 shares during the period. Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 293.2% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 6,750,793 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $746,165,000 after purchasing an additional 5,034,022 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 4.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,871,481 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,246,705,000 after purchasing an additional 236,151 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 307.7% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,632,730 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $512,056,000 after purchasing an additional 3,496,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 22.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,660,695 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,021,228,000 after acquiring an additional 492,615 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Arista Networks Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE ANET opened at $115.11 on Friday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $60.08 and a 1-year high of $133.57. The company has a 50 day moving average of $112.58 and a 200-day moving average of $99.48. The firm has a market cap of $145.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.34, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.09.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.76 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.52% and a net margin of 40.29%. The business’s revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ANET. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $92.25 to $106.25 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.25 price target (up previously from $86.25) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com lowered Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Arista Networks from $97.50 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $105.83.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other news, insider John F. Mccool sold 6,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.58, for a total transaction of $625,013.05. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,391.76. This represents a 95.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 71,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.06, for a total transaction of $7,107,506.98. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 70,724 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,076,289.82. The trade was a 50.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 255,832 shares of company stock worth $28,538,497. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Company 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.