Point72 Asset Management L.P. Has $333.93 Million Stock Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 244.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,021,154 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,143,032 shares during the quarter. Arista Networks accounts for approximately 0.7% of Point72 Asset Management L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Point72 Asset Management L.P. owned 0.24% of Arista Networks worth $333,928,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $242,000. GHE LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks by 319.0% in the fourth quarter. GHE LLC now owns 28,368 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,136,000 after acquiring an additional 21,597 shares during the period. Colonial River Investments LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks by 327.6% in the fourth quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC now owns 9,745 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,077,000 after acquiring an additional 7,466 shares during the period. Unified Investment Management acquired a new position in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $630,000. Finally, Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 257.6% during the fourth quarter. Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. now owns 76,950 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,505,000 after purchasing an additional 55,430 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ANET shares. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $89.00 price objective (up from $76.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $107.14.

Arista Networks Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of ANET stock opened at $97.86 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $122.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.08, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $79.58 and its 200-day moving average is $97.25. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $59.43 and a 1 year high of $133.58.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total value of $159,409.44. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,128 shares in the company, valued at $870,752.64. This trade represents a 15.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John F. Mccool sold 17,433 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.57, for a total value of $1,683,504.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 412,355 shares of company stock worth $37,216,079 over the last three months. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.