Howard Capital Management Inc. Increases Stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 317.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,104 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 4,642 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $675,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ANET. Swedbank AB grew its stake in Arista Networks by 293.2% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 6,750,793 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $746,165,000 after acquiring an additional 5,034,022 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 292.8% during the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 6,053,181 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $674,627,000 after purchasing an additional 4,512,166 shares during the last quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 259.7% in the fourth quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,188,878 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $573,527,000 after purchasing an additional 3,746,407 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 307.7% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,632,730 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $512,056,000 after purchasing an additional 3,496,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in Arista Networks by 306.9% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,433,425 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $268,966,000 after buying an additional 1,835,421 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Arista Networks Stock Down 5.8 %

ANET opened at $92.61 on Tuesday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $60.08 and a 52 week high of $133.57. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $113.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $102.07. The firm has a market cap of $116.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.09.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced 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 company had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. Sell-side analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.29, for a total value of $8,663,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,405,171.04. This trade represents a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $412.65, for a total value of $825,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 42,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,721,666.90. This represents a 4.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 260,056 shares of company stock worth $30,225,623. Corporate insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on ANET. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Arista Networks from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $106.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $108.00 price target (up previously from $106.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $113.79.

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.