The Goldman Sachs Group Cuts Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Price Target to $115.00

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) had its target price trimmed by The Goldman Sachs Group from $130.00 to $115.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on ANET. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group upgraded Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Arista Networks from $73.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $106.07.

Arista Networks Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:ANET opened at $86.15 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $78.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $97.31. Arista Networks has a 12 month low of $59.43 and a 12 month high of $133.58. The firm 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.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced 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. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. The company had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Arista Networks 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 authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to buy up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.07, for a total value of $7,205,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,168,748.32. The trade was a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of the 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 sale, the director now owns 8,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $870,752.64. This trade represents a 15.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 412,355 shares of company stock valued at $37,216,079 over the last quarter. 3.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

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

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.