Hartford Investment Management Co. Acquires 47,659 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Hartford Investment Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 293.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 63,887 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 47,659 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $7,061,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 400.1% in the 4th quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 42,666 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,716,000 after purchasing an additional 34,134 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 300.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 2,560 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $283,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920 shares during the last quarter. Certuity LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 273.4% in the fourth quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 32,339 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,577,000 after acquiring an additional 23,678 shares in the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC grew its stake in Arista Networks by 303.8% in the 4th quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 37,103 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,101,000 after purchasing an additional 27,914 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Financial Group grew its position in Arista Networks by 254.1% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Financial Group now owns 13,461 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,488,000 after buying an additional 9,660 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Arista Networks stock opened at $116.82 on Wednesday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $60.08 and a fifty-two week high of $133.57. The stock has a market cap of $147.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.16, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $113.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $100.33.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on ANET. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.25 target price (up from $86.25) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Arista Networks from $66.25 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $97.50 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Arista Networks from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.83.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.61, for a total value of $9,248,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,500,155.36. The trade was a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 71,036 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.06, for a total value of $7,107,506.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 70,724 shares in the company, valued at $7,076,289.82. The trade was a 50.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 335,832 shares of company stock valued at $37,787,297 in the last three months. Company insiders own 3.54% 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.