Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price Up 4.2% Following Analyst Upgrade

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s share price rose 4.2% during mid-day trading on Friday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $311.00 to $320.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Arista Networks traded as high as $311.43 and last traded at $308.65. Approximately 1,639,895 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 35% from the average daily volume of 2,516,607 shares. The stock had previously closed at $296.07.

ANET has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Arista Networks from $310.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Arista Networks from $297.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Arista Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $240.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on Arista Networks from $306.00 to $349.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $293.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.52, for a total transaction of $573,040.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 60,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,462,247.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.52, for a total transaction of $573,040.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 60,946 shares in the company, valued at $17,462,247.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Yvonne Wassenaar sold 224 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.29, for a total value of $57,184.96. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,827 shares in the company, valued at $721,704.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 337,410 shares of company stock worth $96,626,954. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its position in Arista Networks by 16.1% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 21,642 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,981,000 after buying an additional 3,005 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 4.3% during the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 2,532 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $472,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 1.2% during the third quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 10,265 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,888,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 6.6% during the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 1,485 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $273,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 32.8% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 7,171 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,319,000 after buying an additional 1,770 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Trading Up 4.9 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $97.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $279.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $251.54.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The technology company reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.44% and a net margin of 35.62%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.25 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 6.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, May 7th that allows the company to buyback $1.20 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.