Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV Increases Stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV raised its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 316.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 192,317 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 146,115 shares during the period. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $21,738,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $242,000. GHE LLC grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 319.0% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 327.6% during the fourth quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC now owns 9,745 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,077,000 after buying an additional 7,466 shares during the period. Unified Investment Management purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $630,000. Finally, Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 257.6% during the fourth quarter. Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. now owns 76,950 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,505,000 after buying an additional 55,430 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on ANET. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $89.00 price objective (up from $76.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Arista Networks from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.14.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ANET opened at $97.24 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $79.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.25. The company has a market cap of $122.13 billion, a PE ratio of 43.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $59.43 and a 52-week high of $133.58.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. The business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.49, for a total transaction of $102,187.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $512,305.20. The trade was a 16.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.88, for a total value of $12,988,391.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,641 shares in the company, valued at $8,697,137.08. The trade was a 59.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 412,355 shares of company stock worth $37,216,079. 3.39% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.