Citigroup Increases Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Price Target to $97.00

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) had its target price hoisted by Citigroup from $92.00 to $97.00 in a research note released on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on ANET. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Arista Networks from $73.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $106.07.

Arista Networks Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE ANET opened at $86.15 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $108.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.81, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.31. Arista Networks has a 52 week low of $59.43 and a 52 week high of $133.58.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. The firm’s revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Arista Networks will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.07, for a total value of $7,205,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,168,748.32. This represents a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total transaction of $159,409.44. Following the sale, the director now owns 8,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $870,752.64. This represents a 15.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 412,355 shares of company stock valued at $37,216,079 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ANET. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 304.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,620,270,000 after acquiring an additional 72,311,318 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 330.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,371,848,000 after purchasing an additional 44,269,572 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 277.5% during the 4th quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,016,207,000 after purchasing an additional 20,059,303 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 311.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,665,829,000 after buying an additional 18,293,874 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 218.5% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,328,869,000 after buying an additional 14,454,822 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.