Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Up 1.1% on Analyst Upgrade

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s stock price rose 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. Approximately 2,234,221 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 9,172,432 shares. The stock had previously closed at $86.45.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on ANET. Erste Group Bank cut Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group upgraded Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $112.00 to $115.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on Arista Networks from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $89.00 price objective (up from $76.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $106.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.88, for a total value of $12,988,391.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 92,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,697,137.08. The trade was a 59.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total transaction of $159,409.44. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,128 shares in the company, valued at $870,752.64. This represents a 15.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 412,355 shares of company stock valued at $37,216,079. Company insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. bought a new stake in Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $242,000. GHE LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks by 319.0% in the fourth quarter. GHE LLC now owns 28,368 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,136,000 after acquiring an additional 21,597 shares during the last quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC raised its position in Arista Networks by 327.6% during the fourth quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC now owns 9,745 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,077,000 after purchasing an additional 7,466 shares in the last quarter. Unified Investment Management bought a new stake in Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth $630,000. Finally, Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 257.6% in the 4th quarter. Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. now owns 76,950 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,505,000 after purchasing an additional 55,430 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Trading Down 1.3 %

The company has a market cap of $108.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $78.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $97.31.

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

Arista Networks announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is 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.