Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Up 2% After Analyst Upgrade

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s stock price traded up 2% during mid-day trading on Friday after The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on the stock from $120.00 to $135.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Arista Networks traded as high as $120.33 and last traded at $120.48. 1,792,171 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 5,834,124 shares. The stock had previously closed at $118.13.

ANET has been the topic of several other research reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $495.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $92.25 to $106.25 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Arista Networks from $96.25 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Arista Networks from $97.50 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $105.83.

Insider Activity

In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 3,328 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.35, for a total transaction of $330,628.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 70,724 shares in the company, valued at $7,026,252.59. The trade was a 4.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.30, for a total transaction of $786,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 179,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,671,868.28. The trade was a 4.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 345,316 shares of company stock valued at $37,761,976. 3.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Arista Networks by 5.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 596,220 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $208,962,000 after buying an additional 32,480 shares in the last quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. bought a new stake in Arista Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $217,000. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 8.8% in the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,650 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $578,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 34,019 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,923,000 after purchasing an additional 2,719 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Investment Advisors acquired a new position in Arista Networks in the second quarter valued at about $215,000. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Arista Networks Trading Up 1.4 %

The firm has a market cap of $150.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $107.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $96.74.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.76 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.52% and a net margin of 40.29%. Arista Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.41 EPS. Analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.