Nwam LLC Acquires 40,037 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Nwam LLC lifted its holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 296.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 53,545 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 40,037 shares during the quarter. Nwam LLC’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $5,918,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ANET. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 293.2% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 6,750,793 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $746,165,000 after purchasing an additional 5,034,022 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 294.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,136,864 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $678,308,000 after purchasing an additional 4,579,622 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 292.8% during the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 6,053,181 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $674,627,000 after purchasing an additional 4,512,166 shares during the last quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 259.7% during the 4th quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,188,878 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $573,527,000 after purchasing an additional 3,746,407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 307.7% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,632,730 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $512,056,000 after purchasing an additional 3,496,497 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arista Networks news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.29, for a total transaction 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 $1,405,171.04. This represents a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,697,137.08. This trade represents a 59.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 416,008 shares of company stock valued at $44,854,958 in the last quarter. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Arista Networks from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $113.79.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of ANET opened at $96.43 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $112.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $102.09. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $60.08 and a 52-week high of $133.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.61 billion, a PE ratio of 43.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.09.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.