Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst Says

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) had its price objective upped by Morgan Stanley from $73.00 to $100.00 in a report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Erste Group Bank downgraded Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $55.00 to $85.00 in a report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.36.

Arista Networks Stock Up 6.8 %

Shares of NYSE:ANET opened at $87.86 on Thursday. Arista Networks has a twelve month low of $59.43 and a twelve month high of $133.58. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $79.19 and its 200-day moving average is $97.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.57, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.30.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related 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 directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,500,155.36. The trade was a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,492 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.49, for a total value of $102,187.08. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $512,305.20. The trade was a 16.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 412,355 shares of company stock worth $39,446,799. 3.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ANET. Optimum Investment Advisors lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 31.3% during the first quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 525 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Arista Networks by 45.8% in the 1st quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 455 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Caitlin John LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 174.7% in the fourth quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 239 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC grew its position in Arista Networks by 0.8% during the first quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 21,449 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,662,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First American Bank raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 1.1% during the first quarter. First American Bank now owns 14,478 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,122,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

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.