Geode Capital Management LLC Buys 18,293,874 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 311.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 24,165,355 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,293,874 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $2,665,829,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Caitlin John LLC raised its stake in Arista Networks by 174.7% in the fourth quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 239 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 335.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 248 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 300.0% during the fourth quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 264 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 300.0% during the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 264 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Millennium Group LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 300.0% in the 4th 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. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Marc Taxay sold 51,848 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total transaction of $4,593,214.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the senior vice president now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 491,001 shares of company stock valued at $49,112,111 in the last ninety days. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of ANET opened at $77.48 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.90, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $60.08 and a 52 week high of $133.58. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $98.31 and a 200-day moving average of $101.83.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ANET. Citigroup lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $112.00 to $115.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average 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.