Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Up 1.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s stock price traded up 1.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $92.00 to $97.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Arista Networks traded as high as $88.40 and last traded at $87.39. 2,234,221 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 9,172,432 shares. The stock had previously closed at $86.45.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Erste Group Bank lowered Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 92,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,697,137.08. The trade was a 59.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Marc Taxay sold 51,848 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total value of $4,593,214.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 412,355 shares of company stock valued at $37,216,079. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 304.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,620,270,000 after acquiring an additional 72,311,318 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 330.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,371,848,000 after purchasing an additional 44,269,572 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Arista Networks by 277.5% during the 4th quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,016,207,000 after purchasing an additional 20,059,303 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 18,293,874 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position 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 worth $2,328,869,000 after buying an additional 14,454,822 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $108.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $78.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $97.31.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

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

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.