Clearbridge Investments LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 288.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,477,237 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,096,568 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $163,279,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Caitlin John LLC boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 174.7% in the fourth quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 239 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 335.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 248 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 300.0% in the fourth quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 264 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 264 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Millennium Group LLC raised its position in Arista Networks by 300.0% in the fourth quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 260 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.85, for a total value of $6,788,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,101,013.60. This represents a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Marc Taxay sold 51,848 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total value of $4,593,214.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 491,001 shares of company stock worth $49,112,111. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ANET opened at $77.91 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $98.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.09, a PEG 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. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $99.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $101.91.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ANET has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup raised their price target on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed 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 given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.