UBS Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) had its target price increased by UBS Group from $106.00 to $112.00 in a research report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the technology company's stock.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on ANET. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $145.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup upped their target price on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "sell" rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $113.79.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Arista Networks stock traded down $5.10 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $98.31. The company's stock had a trading volume of 13,984,341 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,062,921. The firm's 50 day moving average is $113.94 and its 200 day moving average is $101.57. The company has a market cap of $123.84 billion, a PE ratio of 44.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.09. Arista Networks has a 52-week low of $60.08 and a 52-week high of $133.57.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Arista Networks will post 2.18 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total value of $159,409.44. Following the sale, the director now owns 8,128 shares of the company's stock, valued at $870,752.64. This trade represents a 15.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.61, for a total value of $9,248,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,500,155.36. This trade represents a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 260,056 shares of company stock valued at $30,225,623 in the last 90 days. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 417 shares of the technology company's stock worth $160,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Intellectus Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 1,927 shares of the technology company's stock worth $740,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Altman Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Altman Advisors Inc. now owns 5,862 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,250,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co. lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 28.2% in the 3rd quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 132 shares of the technology company's stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Financial Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 640 shares of the technology company's stock worth $246,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

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.