Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price Up 2.6% – Still a Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) rose 2.6% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $105.49 and last traded at $102.89. Approximately 8,330,525 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 2% from the average daily volume of 8,166,788 shares. The stock had previously closed at $100.30.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ANET has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $105.25 price target (up from $86.25) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price 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. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $495.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.83.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $110.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $98.33. The firm has a market cap of $133.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.08.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its 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 net margin of 40.29% and a return on equity of 30.52%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.76 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other news, insider John F. Mccool sold 2,336 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.83, for a total transaction of $226,200.72. Following the sale, the insider now owns 288 shares in the company, valued at $27,887.76. This represents a 89.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing 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 Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.09, for a total transaction of $8,407,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,363,647.84. The trade was a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 343,992 shares of company stock valued at $37,634,420. Corporate insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Tevis Investment Management boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 290.4% in the fourth quarter. Tevis Investment Management now owns 4,380 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $484,000 after purchasing an additional 3,258 shares during the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 304.3% in the fourth quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 113,995 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $12,600,000 after purchasing an additional 85,797 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth approximately $221,000. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 328.6% in the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 96,380 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,653,000 after purchasing an additional 73,892 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Essex LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 259.2% during the 4th quarter. Essex LLC now owns 10,564 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,168,000 after acquiring an additional 7,623 shares during 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.