Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Up 0.3% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) rose 0.3% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $117.22 and last traded at $115.80. Approximately 1,324,626 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 8,847,848 shares. The stock had previously closed at $115.49.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ANET has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group upped their target price on Arista Networks from $92.25 to $106.25 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Arista Networks from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.25 price target (up from $86.25) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One 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.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $105.83.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $145.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $112.58 and a 200-day moving average of $99.48.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.08. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.52% and a net margin of 40.29%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.76 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.97 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In related news, insider John F. Mccool sold 6,340 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.58, for a total value of $625,013.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 288 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,391.76. This trade represents a 95.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.29, for a total value of $8,663,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,405,171.04. This trade represents a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 255,832 shares of company stock valued at $28,538,497 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 3.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 411,109 shares during the period. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 293.2% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 6,750,793 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $746,165,000 after acquiring an additional 5,034,022 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 320.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,457,263 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $713,721,000 after buying an additional 4,919,882 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 294.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,136,864 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $678,308,000 after buying an additional 4,579,622 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 292.8% during the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 6,053,181 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $674,627,000 after buying an additional 4,512,166 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.