Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Raises Stock Holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 27.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 11,754 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,530 shares during the quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $1,299,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. Caitlin John LLC raised its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Arista Networks by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 264 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 264 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. New Millennium Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 300.0% during 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 during the period. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 1,012.0% during the fourth quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Arista Networks stock opened at $118.52 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $149.31 billion, a PE ratio of 56.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.09. Arista Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $60.08 and a one year high of $133.57. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $112.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $99.58.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.08. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.29% and a return on equity of 30.52%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.76 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on ANET. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Arista Networks from $97.50 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $66.25 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Arista Networks from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.83.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $412.65, for a total value of $825,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 42,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,721,666.90. This trade represents a 4.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John F. Mccool sold 6,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.58, for a total value of $625,013.05. Following the sale, the insider now owns 288 shares in the company, valued at $28,391.76. The trade was a 95.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 255,832 shares of company stock valued at $28,538,497. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

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.