Empowered Funds LLC Buys 68,290 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 367.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 86,899 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 68,290 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $9,605,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 846.4% during the fourth quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 10,789 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,193,000 after buying an additional 9,649 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 312.4% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 664 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 503 shares during the period. Forbes J M & Co. LLP increased its stake in Arista Networks by 301.5% in the fourth quarter. Forbes J M & Co. LLP now owns 68,296 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,549,000 after purchasing an additional 51,284 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 301.9% during the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 23,269 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,572,000 after purchasing an additional 17,479 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 345.5% during the fourth quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,572 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,053,000 after purchasing an additional 14,403 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.29, for a total value of $8,663,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,405,171.04. This trade represents a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John F. Mccool sold 6,340 shares of Arista Networks 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 sale, the insider now owns 288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,391.76. The trade was a 95.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 255,832 shares of company stock valued at $28,538,497. Corporate insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

ANET stock opened at $118.52 on Monday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $60.08 and a one year high of $133.57. The firm has a market cap of $149.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.98, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $113.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $99.91.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ANET has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target 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. UBS Group increased their price objective on Arista Networks from $92.25 to $106.25 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Arista Networks from $66.25 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Arista Networks from $97.50 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $105.83.

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.