Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Invests $16.58 Million in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 150,000 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,580,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new stake in Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $242,000. GHE LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 319.0% in the 4th quarter. GHE LLC now owns 28,368 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,136,000 after acquiring an additional 21,597 shares in the last quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 327.6% in the 4th quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC now owns 9,745 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,077,000 after acquiring an additional 7,466 shares in the last quarter. Unified Investment Management purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth $630,000. Finally, Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. grew its holdings 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 worth $8,505,000 after buying an additional 55,430 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other news, SVP Marc Taxay sold 51,848 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total value of $4,593,214.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total value of $159,409.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 8,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $870,752.64. The trade was a 15.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 412,355 shares of company stock valued at $37,216,079 over the last three months. Company insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of ANET opened at $97.86 on Thursday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $59.43 and a 12-month high of $133.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $122.90 billion, a PE ratio of 44.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.25.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Arista Networks declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $73.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $107.14.

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.