Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Short Interest Down 6.7% in September

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,520,000 shares, a decrease of 6.7% from the September 15th total of 2,700,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,800,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $340.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $349.00 to $432.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $369.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 832 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.12, for a total transaction of $264,675.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 17,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,624,679.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Marc Taxay sold 628 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.50, for a total value of $220,114.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 832 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.12, for a total transaction of $264,675.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 17,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,624,679.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 58,197 shares of company stock valued at $21,326,894. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 20.3% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 36,329 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,535,000 after purchasing an additional 6,133 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new position in Arista Networks during the first quarter valued at $1,405,000. M&G Plc purchased a new position in Arista Networks during the first quarter valued at $3,238,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Arista Networks by 32.5% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 26,799 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,810,000 after acquiring an additional 6,578 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deepwater Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Arista Networks during the second quarter valued at $15,084,000. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of ANET stock opened at $407.31 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $127.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.73, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.07. Arista Networks has a one year low of $168.25 and a one year high of $422.73. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $365.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $330.60.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.66 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 39.01% and a return on equity of 30.50%. The company’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.41 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Arista Networks will post 7.38 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.