Covington Investment Advisors Inc. Increases Stock Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 298.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 165,232 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 123,814 shares during the quarter. Arista Networks makes up about 1.6% of Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $18,263,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ANET. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 2,133.3% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 134 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 35.0% during the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 135 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Caitlin John LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 174.7% in the 4th quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 239 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Millennium Group LLC grew its position in Arista Networks by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 260 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of ANET stock opened at $79.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $99.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $100.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $101.68. 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 net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.47, for a total value of $9,477,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,537,266.72. The trade was a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,697,137.08. The trade was a 59.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 491,001 shares of company stock valued at $49,112,111 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on ANET shares. Erste Group Bank downgraded Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “sell” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $114.00.

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.