Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 2,056 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new stake in Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $242,000. GHE LLC lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 319.0% during the 4th quarter. GHE LLC now owns 28,368 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,136,000 after acquiring an additional 21,597 shares during the period. Colonial River Investments LLC lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 327.6% during the 4th quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC now owns 9,745 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,077,000 after acquiring an additional 7,466 shares during the period. Unified Investment Management acquired a new stake in Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $630,000. Finally, Silver Oak Securities Incorporated lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 395.8% during the 4th quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 18,593 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,072,000 after acquiring an additional 14,843 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

NYSE:ANET opened at $83.31 on Monday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $60.08 and a fifty-two week high of $133.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $105.07 billion, a PE ratio of 37.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a fifty day moving average of $108.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $102.18.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Research analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In related news, SVP Marc Taxay sold 51,848 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total value of $4,593,214.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.03, for a total transaction of $712,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 147,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,157,209.52. This represents a 5.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 411,001 shares of company stock valued at $42,324,111 over the last 90 days. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com cut shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.