Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Price Target Raised to $97.00

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) had its target price raised by Citigroup from $92.00 to $97.00 in a research report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on ANET. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on Arista Networks from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.07.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ANET opened at $86.15 on Wednesday. Arista Networks has a one year low of $59.43 and a one year high of $133.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.81, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. The company’s fifty day moving average is $78.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $97.31.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. The company had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Arista Networks will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total transaction of $159,409.44. Following the transaction, the director now owns 8,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $870,752.64. This trade represents a 15.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.55, for a total transaction of $620,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 139,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,840,249.20. This trade represents a 5.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 412,355 shares of company stock worth $37,216,079. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Arista Networks by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 97,856,933 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,581,955,000 after purchasing an additional 1,771,982 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 330.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,371,848,000 after acquiring an additional 44,269,572 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 277.5% in the fourth quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,016,207,000 after acquiring an additional 20,059,303 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 311.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,665,829,000 after acquiring an additional 18,293,874 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 218.5% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,328,869,000 after acquiring an additional 14,454,822 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arista Networks Company 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.