Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading 5.1% Higher – Should You Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) shares rose 5.1% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $70.69 and last traded at $67.64. Approximately 6,971,474 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 22% from the average daily volume of 8,986,017 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.37.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on ANET shares. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.00.

Arista Networks Trading Up 5.8 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $85.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50 day moving average is $93.37 and its 200 day moving average is $101.18.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. Analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total transaction of $159,409.44. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,128 shares in the company, valued at $870,752.64. The trade was a 15.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.02, for a total value of $896,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 155,784 shares in the company, valued at $17,450,923.68. This represents a 4.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 411,001 shares of company stock worth $39,362,831. Company insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 304.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,620,270,000 after acquiring an additional 72,311,318 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 330.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,371,848,000 after buying an additional 44,269,572 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 277.5% during the fourth quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,016,207,000 after buying an additional 20,059,303 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 311.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,665,829,000 after buying an additional 18,293,874 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 218.5% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,328,869,000 after acquiring an additional 14,454,822 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.