Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Up 1.4% on Analyst Upgrade

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s stock price rose 1.4% on Monday 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 $120.98 and last traded at $119.78. Approximately 5,776,024 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 13% from the average daily volume of 5,099,290 shares. The stock had previously closed at $118.13.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. 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 note on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. 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 report on Friday, November 8th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $66.25 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $105.25 target price (up previously from $86.25) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $105.83.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John F. Mccool sold 288 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.70, for a total value of $31,305.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.30, for a total value of $786,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 179,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,671,868.28. This trade represents a 4.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 343,824 shares of company stock valued at $37,614,089. Company insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its position in Arista Networks by 6.9% in the third quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 417 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $160,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Intellectus Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 1,927 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $740,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 682 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $262,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Altman Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 0.5% in the third quarter. Altman Advisors Inc. now owns 5,862 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,250,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Everpar Advisors LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 1.5% in the third quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 1,907 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $732,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $107.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $97.05. The stock has a market capitalization 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.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.76 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.52% and a net margin of 40.29%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.41 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.