Sawyer & Company Inc Acquires New Stake in Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Sawyer & Company Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 43,037 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,403,000. Arista Networks makes up approximately 1.6% of Sawyer & Company Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ANET. Bare Financial Services Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 2,118.2% in the second quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 244 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares during the period. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new position in Arista Networks during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. REAP Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 108.0% in the second quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 337 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the period. eCIO Inc. bought a new stake in Arista Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Solstein Capital LLC lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 493.8% in the 2nd quarter. Solstein Capital LLC now owns 380 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ANET. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Melius Research raised their price target on Arista Networks from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Arista Networks from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Wolfe Research raised their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $164.31.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ANET opened at $126.17 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $158.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.97, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.41. Arista Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $59.43 and a one year high of $164.94. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $138.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $127.48.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The technology company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.03. Arista Networks had a net margin of 39.73% and a return on equity of 30.28%. The company had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 27.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 24,042 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total value of $2,994,431.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 9,917 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,235,162.35. The trade was a 70.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 422 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.15, for a total value of $49,437.30. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,052,007. This trade represents a 4.49% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 218,464 shares of company stock valued at $30,309,988 over the last three months. 3.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.