Sapient Capital LLC Purchases New Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,747 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $411,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. Sandy Spring Bank boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 33.6% during the 4th quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 155 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,839 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Purus Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Purus Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,619 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,030,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC now owns 7,739 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,823,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC grew its stake in Arista Networks by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC now owns 6,394 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,506,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Arista Networks Stock Down 8.6 %

NYSE:ANET opened at $271.22 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.79 billion, a PE ratio of 41.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.09. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.68 and a 12-month high of $307.74. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $281.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $242.84.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The technology company reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.44% and a net margin of 35.62%. Arista Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.25 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on ANET. Melius Research raised shares of Arista Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “sell” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Arista Networks from $230.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Arista Networks from $297.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $272.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $275.59.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 18,621 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.60, for a total transaction of $4,796,769.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 82,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,320,521.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 18,621 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.60, for a total transaction of $4,796,769.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 82,766 shares in the company, valued at $21,320,521.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Yvonne Wassenaar sold 186 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $261.41, for a total transaction of $48,622.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $700,055.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 361,036 shares of company stock worth $102,813,921. Corporate insiders own 18.99% of the company’s stock.

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.