Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading 7.3% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s share price rose 7.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $311.00 to $320.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Arista Networks traded as high as $295.12 and last traded at $294.04. Approximately 3,552,341 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 43% from the average daily volume of 2,476,203 shares. The stock had previously closed at $273.99.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on ANET. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $240.00 to $320.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Arista Networks from $268.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Arista Networks from $313.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on Arista Networks from $306.00 to $349.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $293.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 87,418 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.81, for a total value of $24,373,012.58. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 17,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,929,639.61. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Arista Networks news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.91, for a total transaction of $97,867.96. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $706,518.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 87,418 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.81, for a total transaction of $24,373,012.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 17,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,929,639.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 337,410 shares of company stock worth $96,626,954 in the last quarter. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ANET. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 9,420 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,732,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,710 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $496,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 7,906 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,293,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Renasant Bank bought a new position in Arista Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $249,000. Finally, HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 24.5% during the 1st quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 3,504 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,016,000 after purchasing an additional 690 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $92.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.08, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.13. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $279.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $251.54.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The technology company reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.44% and a net margin of 35.62%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.25 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 6.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.20 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to buy up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors 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.