Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Increases Stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 9.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 60,515 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 5,386 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $14,252,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AXQ Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the third quarter worth $791,000. Advisor Resource Council grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 507.9% during the fourth quarter. Advisor Resource Council now owns 7,021 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,653,000 after purchasing an additional 5,866 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 4,445 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,024,220 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $716,649,000 after purchasing an additional 16,081 shares during the period. Finally, Cambridge Trust Co. grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 70.1% during the third quarter. Cambridge Trust Co. now owns 50,255 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,243,000 after purchasing an additional 20,704 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ANET has been the subject of several recent research reports. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Arista Networks from $232.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Melius Research raised Arista Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Arista Networks from $225.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Arista Networks from $254.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.59.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.52, for a total value of $573,040.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 60,946 shares in the company, valued at $17,462,247.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Arista Networks news, Director Yvonne Wassenaar sold 224 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.29, for a total transaction of $57,184.96. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,827 shares in the company, valued at approximately $721,704.83. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.52, for a total value of $573,040.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 60,946 shares in the company, valued at $17,462,247.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 334,227 shares of company stock worth $95,828,875. 18.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

ANET stock traded up $4.31 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $249.78. 913,444 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,449,330. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $131.68 and a 52-week high of $307.74. The business has a 50 day moving average of $279.58 and a 200-day moving average of $245.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.09.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The technology company reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.38. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.44% and a net margin of 35.62%. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current year.

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.