Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Cut to “Hold” at Erste Group Bank

Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

ANET has been the topic of several other research reports. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com cut shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.00.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

NYSE ANET opened at $84.38 on Monday. Arista Networks has a 52-week low of $60.08 and a 52-week high of $133.58. The company has a market capitalization of $106.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a fifty day moving average of $103.81 and a 200-day moving average of $101.77.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. As a group, analysts forecast that Arista Networks will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In related news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total transaction of $159,409.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $870,752.64. This trade represents a 15.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Marc Taxay sold 51,848 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total transaction of $4,593,214.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 491,001 shares of company stock valued at $49,112,111 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ANET. Caitlin John LLC grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 174.7% in the 4th 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. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 335.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 248 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 264 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 264 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Millennium Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 260 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.