Candriam S.C.A. Raises Stock Holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Candriam S.C.A. boosted its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 281.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 158,543 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 117,033 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $17,524,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new stake in Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $242,000. GHE LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 319.0% during the fourth quarter. GHE LLC now owns 28,368 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,136,000 after purchasing an additional 21,597 shares during the last quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 327.6% in the fourth quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC now owns 9,745 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,077,000 after purchasing an additional 7,466 shares during the period. Unified Investment Management acquired a new position in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $630,000. Finally, Silver Oak Securities Incorporated lifted its position in Arista Networks by 395.8% during the fourth quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 18,593 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,072,000 after buying an additional 14,843 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arista Networks Trading Down 4.0 %

NYSE ANET opened at $84.33 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $109.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $102.02. The stock has a market cap of $106.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.99, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.09. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $60.08 and a 52 week high of $133.57.

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

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.47, for a total value of $9,477,600.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,537,266.72. This represents a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John F. Mccool sold 288 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.70, for a total transaction of $31,305.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 411,289 shares of company stock valued at $42,355,417. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $125.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.00.

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.