Fred Alger Management LLC Grows Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Fred Alger Management LLC grew its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 40.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 41,989 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,990 shares during the quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $4,641,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ANET. Caitlin John LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks by 174.7% in the 4th quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 239 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 335.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 248 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. New Millennium Group LLC lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 300.0% during the fourth quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 260 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the period. Quarry LP boosted its position in Arista Networks by 381.5% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 260 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 415.7% during the 4th quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 263 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.58, for a total value of $708,640.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 131,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,673,426.72. The trade was a 5.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.07, for a total transaction of $7,205,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,168,748.32. The trade was a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 412,355 shares of company stock worth $37,216,079 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE ANET opened at $86.15 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.31. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $59.43 and a 52 week high of $133.58. The company has a market cap of $108.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. The company had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. Arista Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Arista Networks announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ANET. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group upgraded Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Arista Networks from $73.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KGI Securities cut Arista Networks to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $106.07.

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.