Invesco Ltd. Grows Stock Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 271.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,190,118 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 8,175,884 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned about 0.89% of Arista Networks worth $1,236,844,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Arista Networks by 304.2% in the fourth 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 last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 44,269,572 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 311.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,665,829,000 after acquiring an additional 18,293,874 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased 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 period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,397,833,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ANET shares. UBS Group upgraded Arista Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "sell" rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $108.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arista Networks news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.61, for a total transaction of $9,248,800.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,500,155.36. The trade was a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.02, for a total value of $896,160.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 155,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,450,923.68. This trade represents a 4.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 411,031 shares of company stock worth $39,364,943 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.54% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Trading Down 4.1 %

Arista Networks stock traded down $3.11 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $72.89. 7,160,629 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,159,722. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $59.43 and a 12-month high of $133.58. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.45. The firm has a market cap of $91.92 billion, a PE ratio of 32.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.30.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

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.