Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Stock Position Lifted by Lafayette Investments Inc.

Lafayette Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 2.1% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 29,691 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 605 shares during the quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $2,300,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Arista Networks by 304.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,620,270,000 after purchasing an additional 72,311,318 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 330.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,371,848,000 after purchasing an additional 44,269,572 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 277.5% in the 4th quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,016,207,000 after buying an additional 20,059,303 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 311.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,665,829,000 after buying an additional 18,293,874 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 218.5% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,328,869,000 after buying an additional 14,454,822 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 30,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.23, for a total transaction of $2,766,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,196,776.48. This trade represents a 69.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.49, for a total transaction of $102,187.08. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $512,305.20. This represents a 16.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 161,690 shares of company stock valued at $14,525,085 in the last 90 days. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group raised shares of Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.33.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

NYSE ANET opened at $101.71 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $89.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $95.70. Arista Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $59.43 and a twelve month high of $133.58. The stock has a market cap of $127.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.05, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.37.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 40.72%. Arista Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to repurchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Arista Networks Company 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.