Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV Acquires 146,115 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV lifted its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 316.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 192,317 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 146,115 shares during the period. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $21,738,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 304.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,620,270,000 after purchasing an additional 72,311,318 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 330.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,371,848,000 after buying an additional 44,269,572 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 277.5% during the fourth quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,016,207,000 after buying an additional 20,059,303 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 311.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,665,829,000 after buying an additional 18,293,874 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 218.5% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,328,869,000 after buying an additional 14,454,822 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Stock Up 5.3%

ANET stock opened at $97.24 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $97.25. Arista Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $59.43 and a twelve month high of $133.58. The firm has a market cap of $122.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.80, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. The company had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Arista Networks declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on ANET. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Arista Networks from $73.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $107.14.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other news, SVP Marc Taxay sold 51,848 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total transaction of $4,593,214.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, 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 shares were sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 412,355 shares of company stock worth $37,216,079 in the last 90 days. 3.39% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.