Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading 6.9% Higher – Time to Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) shot up 6.9% on Friday . The company traded as high as $137.61 and last traded at $137.50. 8,978,215 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 5% from the average session volume of 8,543,917 shares. The stock had previously closed at $128.67.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, November 24th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $183.00 price objective (up previously from $179.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, December 29th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $164.44.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $131.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $136.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.15 billion, a PE ratio of 52.28, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 24,042 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total transaction of $2,994,431.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 9,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,235,162.35. This trade represents a 70.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Kenneth Duda sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.43, for a total value of $3,339,180.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 522,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,091,832. The trade was a 4.74% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 216,464 shares of company stock valued at $27,553,548 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Arista Networks by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 18,509 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,697,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 16,085 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,133,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 56.7% during the third quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 199 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 6,311 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $827,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crown Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 2.4% during the third quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,175 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $463,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

About Arista Networks

Arista Networks, Inc is a technology company that designs and sells cloud networking solutions for large-scale data centers and enterprise environments. The company is best known for its high-performance switching and routing platforms, which are used to build scalable, low-latency networks for cloud service providers, internet companies, financial services, telecommunications, and enterprise IT. Arista’s offerings emphasize programmability, automation and telemetry to support modern, software-driven network architectures.

Central to Arista’s product portfolio is its Extensible Operating System (EOS), a modular network operating system that provides consistent programmability, stateful control and advanced visibility across the company’s hardware platforms.