Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Up 3.6% – Still a Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s share price rose 3.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $112.46 and last traded at $110.72. Approximately 3,330,580 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 62% from the average daily volume of 8,805,445 shares. The stock had previously closed at $106.88.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $97.50 to $107.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Arista Networks from $100.00 to $106.25 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.25 target price (up previously from $86.25) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com lowered Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Arista Networks from $66.25 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.88.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $100.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $90.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.23, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.10.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.08. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.52% and a net margin of 40.29%. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.76 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.41 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.19, for a total transaction of $132,707.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,260 shares in the company, valued at approximately $915,038.10. This represents a 12.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John F. Mccool sold 288 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.70, for a total transaction of $31,305.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 354,964 shares of company stock worth $36,974,705 over the last quarter. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ANET. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 3.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,237,635 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,313,229,000 after purchasing an additional 411,109 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,871,481 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,246,705,000 after purchasing an additional 236,151 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 22.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,660,695 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,021,228,000 after purchasing an additional 492,615 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,283,573 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $876,481,000 after purchasing an additional 99,790 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,195,733 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $769,560,000 after acquiring an additional 20,278 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

About Arista Networks

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.