Short Interest in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Rises By 38.5%

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 15,210,000 shares, an increase of 38.5% from the February 13th total of 10,980,000 shares. Approximately 1.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 9,600,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on ANET. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “sell” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.85, for a total value of $6,788,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,101,013.60. This represents a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.51, for a total transaction of $892,080.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 163,784 shares in the company, valued at $18,263,553.84. This trade represents a 4.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 in the last three months. Company insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Caitlin John LLC raised its stake in Arista Networks by 174.7% during the fourth quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 239 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 335.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 248 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Millennium Group LLC grew its position in Arista Networks by 300.0% during the 4th quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 260 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arista Networks Price Performance

ANET traded up $1.55 on Monday, hitting $85.06. The company had a trading volume of 6,636,323 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,651,526. Arista Networks has a 52-week low of $60.08 and a 52-week high of $133.58. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $105.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $101.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $107.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. Equities research analysts expect that Arista Networks will post 2.2 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.