Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Acquires 50,855 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 357.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65,087 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 50,855 shares during the period. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $7,194,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 35.0% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 135 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC boosted its position in Arista Networks by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 1,368 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $528,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,177 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $453,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Old North State Trust LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 6.9% in the third quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 1,371 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $526,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 0.8% during the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 12,723 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,883,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ANET shares. StockNews.com downgraded Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group upgraded Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $108.00 price objective (up from $106.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut shares of Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $114.00.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of Arista Networks stock opened at $80.31 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $101.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.18, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.30. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $60.08 and a 1 year high of $133.58. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $96.46 and its 200 day moving average is $101.60.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.85, for a total value of $6,788,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,101,013.60. The trade was a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.03, for a total transaction of $712,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 147,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,157,209.52. This trade represents a 5.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 483,001 shares of company stock valued at $48,220,031. Corporate insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

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.