Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Receives $107.14 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $107.14.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target 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. UBS Group upgraded Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

NYSE ANET opened at $95.60 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $80.93 and a 200-day moving average of $97.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $120.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. Arista Networks has a 52 week low of $59.43 and a 52 week high of $133.58.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. The business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research 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 stock repurchase program on Tuesday, May 6th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.88, for a total value of $12,988,391.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,641 shares in the company, valued at $8,697,137.08. The trade was a 59.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,492 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.49, for a total value of $102,187.08. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $512,305.20. This represents a 16.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 410,755 shares of company stock worth $37,045,233. Company insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its position in Arista Networks by 648.0% during the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 748 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 648 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 361.6% in the fourth quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 6,781 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $750,000 after acquiring an additional 5,312 shares during the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 414.8% in the fourth quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 40,714 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,500,000 after acquiring an additional 32,806 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 195.8% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC now owns 28,010 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,096,000 after acquiring an additional 18,542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Occidental Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $207,000. 82.47% of the stock is owned by 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.