Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Up 1.7% – Here’s Why

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) rose 1.7% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $115.78 and last traded at $114.19. Approximately 1,811,528 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 8,972,675 shares. The stock had previously closed at $112.32.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ANET has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $495.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $105.25 price objective (up from $86.25) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, November 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $66.25 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $105.83.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $149.31 billion, a PE ratio of 56.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a 50 day moving average of $112.87 and a 200 day moving average of $99.58.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.76 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. Arista Networks’s revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 71,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.06, for a total value of $7,107,506.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 70,724 shares in the company, valued at $7,076,289.82. This represents a 50.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.29, for a total value of $8,663,200.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,405,171.04. This represents a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 255,832 shares of company stock valued at $28,538,497 in the last quarter. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Arista Networks by 293.2% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 6,750,793 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $746,165,000 after purchasing an additional 5,034,022 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 320.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,457,263 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $713,721,000 after buying an additional 4,919,882 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Arista Networks by 294.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,136,864 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $678,308,000 after purchasing an additional 4,579,622 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Arista Networks by 292.8% during the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 6,053,181 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $674,627,000 after purchasing an additional 4,512,166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 196.3% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 6,342,064 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $732,493,000 after acquiring an additional 4,201,973 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.