Voya Investment Management LLC Acquires 868,152 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Voya Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 29.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,778,322 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 868,152 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $550,539,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ANET. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the second quarter worth $1,228,177,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 153.8% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,719,809 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $584,119,000 after purchasing an additional 4,678,372 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 193.3% during the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,065,054 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $721,342,000 after purchasing an additional 4,656,021 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Arista Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $247,451,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 35.3% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 8,582,109 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $611,852,000 after purchasing an additional 2,240,045 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 24,042 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total value of $2,994,431.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,917 shares in the company, valued at $1,235,162.35. This trade represents a 70.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 422 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.15, for a total transaction of $49,437.30. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,052,007. This trade represents a 4.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 160,464 shares of company stock worth $21,701,628. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Arista Networks Stock Up 1.9%

Arista Networks stock opened at $124.66 on Friday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $59.43 and a twelve month high of $164.94. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $136.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $127.42. The company has a market capitalization of $156.98 billion, a PE ratio of 47.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.41.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The technology company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.03. Arista Networks had a net margin of 39.73% and a return on equity of 30.28%. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 27.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ANET shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Arista Networks from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $172.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $163.56.

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.