Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Up 5.2% – Here’s What Happened

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s stock price rose 5.2% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $116.99 and last traded at $113.49. Approximately 5,022,026 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 44% from the average daily volume of 8,943,128 shares. The stock had previously closed at $107.84.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lowered their price target on Arista Networks from $495.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $92.25 to $106.25 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.83.

Arista Networks Stock Up 1.2 %

The company has a market capitalization of $145.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.39, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $111.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $98.79.

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

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.47, for a total transaction of $9,477,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,537,266.72. This trade represents a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 71,036 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.06, for a total transaction of $7,107,506.98. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 70,724 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,076,289.82. This represents a 50.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 331,160 shares of company stock worth $36,380,165 over the last 90 days. 3.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,237,635 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,313,229,000 after purchasing an additional 411,109 shares during the period. Swedbank AB raised its position in Arista Networks by 293.2% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 6,750,793 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $746,165,000 after buying an additional 5,034,022 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 292.8% in the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 6,053,181 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $674,627,000 after acquiring an additional 4,512,166 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Arista Networks by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,871,481 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,246,705,000 after acquiring an additional 236,151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DSM Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 259.7% during the 4th quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,188,878 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $573,527,000 after acquiring an additional 3,746,407 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.