Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price Up 3.6% – Still a Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s share price shot up 3.6% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $76.78 and last traded at $75.30. 2,947,454 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 9,126,346 shares. The stock had previously closed at $72.67.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ANET has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group raised shares of Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $118.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.50.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $93.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.30. The business’s 50-day moving average is $88.74 and its 200 day moving average is $100.14.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Arista Networks news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.61, for a total transaction of $9,248,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,500,155.36. The trade was a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.55, for a total transaction of $620,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 139,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,840,249.20. The trade was a 5.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 411,031 shares of company stock worth $39,364,943. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 2,044.9% during the first quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 41,825 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,241,000 after buying an additional 39,875 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Arista Networks by 29.2% during the 1st quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,845 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $375,000 after acquiring an additional 1,095 shares during the last quarter. Yarbrough Capital LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 183.3% in the 1st quarter. Yarbrough Capital LLC now owns 29,380 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,276,000 after purchasing an additional 19,008 shares in the last quarter. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. bought a new position in Arista Networks in the first quarter valued at about $510,000. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 5.8% during the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 19,035 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,044 shares in 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.