Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price Up 1.1% – Here’s Why

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s share price rose 1.1% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $92.99 and last traded at $92.54. Approximately 2,711,805 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 10,467,295 shares. The stock had previously closed at $91.57.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ANET. Barclays lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $125.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. 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. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Arista Networks from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “sell” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $113.79.

Arista Networks Trading Up 1.7 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $117.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $111.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $102.19.

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

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $412.65, for a total transaction of $825,300.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 42,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,721,666.90. The trade was a 4.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John F. Mccool sold 17,433 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.57, for a total transaction of $1,683,504.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 433,441 shares of company stock valued at $46,538,462 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Strategic Blueprint LLC purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the 3rd quarter worth $266,000. Financial Advocates Investment Management grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 5.5% during the third quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 799 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co. grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 28.2% during the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 132 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 2,751 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,056,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 14.4% in the third quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 8,457 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,246,000 after buying an additional 1,067 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

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.