Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Up 0.4% – Still a Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s share price shot up 0.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $116.27 and last traded at $115.76. 5,371,953 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 16% from the average session volume of 6,396,429 shares. The stock had previously closed at $115.29.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on ANET shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $97.50 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $96.25 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $92.25 to $106.25 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted 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. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $495.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.42.

Arista Networks Trading Up 0.4 %

The firm has a market cap of $145.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $105.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $95.55.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.76 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.41 EPS. Arista Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 3,328 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.35, for a total value of $330,628.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 70,724 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,026,252.59. The trade was a 4.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.30, for a total value of $786,360.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 179,784 shares in the company, valued at $17,671,868.28. This trade represents a 4.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 345,316 shares of company stock worth $37,761,976 in the last three months. 3.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 152.6% during the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 13,001 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,557,000 after purchasing an additional 7,854 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 183.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,162 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $407,000 after purchasing an additional 752 shares in the last quarter. Choreo LLC bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,485,000. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,765 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $619,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in Arista Networks by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 133,892 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,926,000 after buying an additional 1,824 shares during the last quarter. 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.