Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Up 1.1% – Still a Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) shares shot up 1.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $106.43 and last traded at $105.92. 986,886 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 8,831,813 shares. The stock had previously closed at $104.78.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ANET has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays lowered their target price on Arista Networks from $495.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $105.25 price objective (up previously from $86.25) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $100.00 to $106.25 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Arista Networks from $66.25 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.88.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $100.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $90.84. The company has a market cap of $141.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.10.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.76 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.29% and a return on equity of 30.52%. Arista Networks’s revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Marc Taxay sold 2,496 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.09, for a total transaction of $242,342.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.19, for a total transaction of $132,707.28. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,260 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $915,038.10. This represents a 12.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 354,964 shares of company stock valued at $36,974,705 over the last three months. 3.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. Beacon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 500.0% in the 2nd quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 78 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. LGT Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Arista Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the third quarter worth $44,000. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.