Sciencast Management LP Acquires 7,082 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Sciencast Management LP raised its holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 951.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,826 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,082 shares during the quarter. Sciencast Management LP’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $865,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ANET. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the third quarter worth approximately $1,417,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 20.7% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 963 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 67.3% during the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,920 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 2.0% during the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 250,416 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $96,114,000 after purchasing an additional 4,952 shares during the period. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the third quarter worth approximately $753,000. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com downgraded Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.00.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of ANET stock opened at $83.26 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $102.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $101.74. The company has a market cap of $104.99 billion, a PE ratio of 37.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08. Arista Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $60.08 and a fifty-two week high of $133.58.

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

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.88, for a total transaction of $12,988,391.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 92,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,697,137.08. This trade represents a 59.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total value of $159,409.44. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $870,752.64. This represents a 15.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 491,001 shares of company stock valued at $49,112,111 in the last 90 days. 3.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.