First Business Financial Services Inc. Acquires 45,204 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

First Business Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 318.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 59,415 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 45,204 shares during the period. Arista Networks makes up approximately 0.6% of First Business Financial Services Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding. First Business Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $6,567,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in Arista Networks by 300.0% in the fourth quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 12,360 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,366,000 after buying an additional 9,270 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its position in Arista Networks by 314.9% in the fourth quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 2,091 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $231,000 after buying an additional 1,587 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 300.0% in the fourth quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 17,474 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,931,000 after buying an additional 13,105 shares during the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP increased its position in Arista Networks by 1,214.1% in the fourth quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 21,604 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,388,000 after buying an additional 19,960 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 634.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,663 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $515,000 after buying an additional 4,028 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ANET shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $108.00 price target (up from $106.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.00.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, SVP Marc Taxay sold 51,848 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total transaction of $4,593,214.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.29, for a total transaction of $8,663,200.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,405,171.04. This trade represents a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 491,289 shares of company stock valued at $51,018,617 over the last three months. 3.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of ANET opened at $87.83 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $110.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $102.14. The company has a market capitalization of $110.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.09. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $60.08 and a 1-year high of $133.57.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The business 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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 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.