Logan Capital Management Inc. Grows Stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Logan Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 284.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 160,299 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 118,644 shares during the period. Logan Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $17,718,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ANET. LRI Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 292.9% during the 4th quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 5,375 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $594,000 after purchasing an additional 4,007 shares during the period. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 232.7% during the fourth quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC now owns 68,722 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,596,000 after buying an additional 48,068 shares during the period. Interval Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 210.3% in the fourth quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 24,210 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,676,000 after acquiring an additional 16,408 shares in the last quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario increased its position in Arista Networks by 155.8% during the 4th quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 52,087 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,757,000 after purchasing an additional 31,721 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 297,109.3% in the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,462,488 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $382,709,000 after purchasing an additional 3,461,323 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ANET has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on Arista Networks from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Arista Networks from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. KGI Securities downgraded shares of Arista Networks to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $106.07.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.03, for a total value of $712,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 147,784 shares in the company, valued at $13,157,209.52. This trade represents a 5.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 412,355 shares of company stock worth $37,216,079 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of ANET stock opened at $86.15 on Monday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $59.43 and a twelve month high of $133.58. The stock has a market cap of $108.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $78.94 and a 200 day moving average of $97.29.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.