Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Up 1.6% – Should You Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) shot up 1.6% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $114.15 and last traded at $112.27. 1,175,663 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 8,687,398 shares. The stock had previously closed at $110.53.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $97.50 to $107.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Barclays dropped their target price on Arista Networks from $495.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $97.50 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $92.25 to $106.25 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Arista Networks from $66.25 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.70.

Arista Networks Trading Down 0.3 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $138.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $104.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.48.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $1.76 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John F. Mccool sold 288 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.70, for a total value of $31,305.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.30, for a total value of $786,360.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 179,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,671,868.28. This represents a 4.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 337,316 shares of company stock valued at $35,286,096 over the last quarter. 3.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ANET. LGT Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Arista Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Arista Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. HM Payson & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 28.2% during the 3rd quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 132 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 2,133.3% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 134 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.