Nearwater Capital Markets Ltd Invests $11.05 Million in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Nearwater Capital Markets Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 100,000 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,053,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ANET. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 304.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,620,270,000 after acquiring an additional 72,311,318 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 330.9% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its position in Arista Networks by 277.5% in the 4th quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,016,207,000 after purchasing an additional 20,059,303 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 311.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,665,829,000 after acquiring an additional 18,293,874 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 218.5% during the 4th 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 and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total value of $159,409.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $870,752.64. This trade represents a 15.47% 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 hyperlink. Also, insider John F. Mccool sold 17,433 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.14, for a total value of $1,623,709.62. Following the sale, the insider now owns 17,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,623,709.62. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 412,355 shares of company stock valued at $37,216,079 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ANET has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI reduced 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 report on Tuesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. KGI Securities cut Arista Networks to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $107.14.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

ANET stock opened at $97.24 on Wednesday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $59.43 and a 1 year high of $133.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $122.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.80, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $79.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $97.25.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.50 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.