Prudential Financial Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 201.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,640,616 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,095,948 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $181,337,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 35.0% in the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 135 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 2.3% during the third quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,621 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $622,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 3.1% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 1,368 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $528,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group grew its stake in Arista Networks by 3.8% during the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,177 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $453,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,862 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $715,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of Arista Networks stock opened at $83.26 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $104.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.50, 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $102.53 and a 200 day moving average of $101.89.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on ANET shares. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $114.00.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.85, for a total transaction of $6,788,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,101,013.60. The trade was a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total value of $159,409.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,128 shares in the company, valued at $870,752.64. The trade was a 15.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 491,001 shares of company stock worth $49,112,111 over the last quarter. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by 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.