492,000 Shares in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Purchased by KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 492,000 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,381,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 3.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,237,635 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,313,229,000 after purchasing an additional 411,109 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 293.2% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 6,750,793 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $746,165,000 after purchasing an additional 5,034,022 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 320.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,457,263 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $713,721,000 after purchasing an additional 4,919,882 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 196.3% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 6,342,064 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $732,493,000 after purchasing an additional 4,201,973 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 294.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,136,864 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $678,308,000 after purchasing an additional 4,579,622 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ANET shares. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $114.00.

Arista Networks Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE ANET opened at $83.26 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $102.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $101.60. The company has a market cap of $104.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $60.08 and a 1 year high of $133.58.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.51, for a total transaction of $892,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 163,784 shares in the company, valued at $18,263,553.84. This trade represents a 4.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Marc Taxay sold 51,848 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total transaction of $4,593,214.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 491,001 shares of company stock worth $49,112,111 in the last quarter. 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.