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

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ANET has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Arista Networks from $495.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $92.25 to $106.25 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $96.25 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned 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 an average price target of $105.83.

Arista Networks Stock Up 5.6 %

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $111.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $98.50. The company has a market capitalization of $143.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.74, a PEG ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.08.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.76 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.52% and a net margin of 40.29%. Arista Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arista Networks news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.51, for a total transaction of $892,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 163,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,263,553.84. The trade was a 4.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.47, for a total value of $9,477,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,537,266.72. This represents a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 343,992 shares of company stock valued at $37,634,420. Company insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 3.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,237,635 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,313,229,000 after purchasing an additional 411,109 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 293.2% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 6,750,793 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $746,165,000 after buying an additional 5,034,022 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 292.8% in 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,871,481 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,246,705,000 after acquiring an additional 236,151 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 307.7% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,632,730 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $512,056,000 after purchasing an additional 3,496,497 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Arista Networks Company Profile

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.