Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Up 3.8% After Analyst Upgrade

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) was up 3.8% during mid-day trading on Friday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $73.00 to $100.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Arista Networks traded as high as $91.06 and last traded at $91.18. Approximately 3,084,089 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 11,226,331 shares. The stock had previously closed at $87.84.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on ANET. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $108.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.49, for a total value of $102,187.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $512,305.20. The trade was a 16.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.88, for a total transaction of $12,988,391.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 92,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,697,137.08. This trade represents a 59.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 412,355 shares of company stock valued at $39,446,799. Corporate insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ANET. Caitlin John LLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 174.7% in the 4th 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 period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 335.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 248 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. HighMark Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 179.7% in the first quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 358 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the period. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 300.0% during the fourth 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. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont raised its stake in Arista Networks by 300.0% during the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 264 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $114.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $97.72.

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

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.