Barclays Lowers Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Price Target to $119.00

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) had its price objective lowered by equities research analysts at Barclays from $126.00 to $119.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the technology company’s stock. Barclays‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 38.13% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on ANET. UBS Group raised Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI dropped their price target 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $106.07.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ANET opened at $86.15 on Thursday. Arista Networks has a 52-week low of $59.43 and a 52-week high of $133.58. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $97.31. The firm has a market cap of $108.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.81, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Arista Networks announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Arista Networks news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total transaction of $159,409.44. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 8,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $870,752.64. This represents a 15.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.07, for a total transaction of $7,205,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,168,748.32. This represents a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 412,355 shares of company stock valued at $37,216,079 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Caitlin John LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 174.7% in the 4th quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 239 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 335.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 248 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the period. New Millennium Group LLC grew its stake in Arista Networks by 300.0% during the fourth quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 260 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 381.5% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 260 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the period. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 415.7% in the 4th quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 263 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.