Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Up 2% Following Analyst Upgrade

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) shares rose 2% during mid-day trading on Friday after Evercore ISI raised their price target on the stock from $110.00 to $130.00. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Arista Networks traded as high as $120.33 and last traded at $120.48. Approximately 1,792,171 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 5,834,124 shares. The stock had previously closed at $118.13.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup increased their price target on Arista Networks from $96.25 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Arista Networks from $66.25 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $105.25 target price (up from $86.25) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, November 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Arista Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $104.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 3,328 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.35, for a total transaction of $330,628.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 70,724 shares in the company, valued at $7,026,252.59. This trade represents a 4.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Marc Taxay sold 2,496 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.83, for a total transaction of $241,693.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 345,316 shares of company stock valued at $37,761,976 in the last quarter. 3.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ANET. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 3.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,237,635 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,313,229,000 after buying an additional 411,109 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,871,481 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,246,705,000 after purchasing an additional 236,151 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 22.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,660,695 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,021,228,000 after buying an additional 492,615 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,283,573 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $876,481,000 after acquiring an additional 99,790 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Arista Networks by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,195,733 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $769,560,000 after acquiring an additional 20,278 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $151.80 billion, a PE ratio of 57.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $107.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $96.59.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 40.29% and a return on equity of 30.52%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.41 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict 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.