Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Up 5.5% - Here's What Happened

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report)'s share price was up 5.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $74.47 and last traded at $74.68. Approximately 3,289,951 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 9,082,651 shares. The stock had previously closed at $70.76.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ANET shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Erste Group Bank lowered Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price target on Arista Networks from $85.00 to $55.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $118.00 to $73.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $104.29.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The firm's 50 day moving average is $80.57 and its 200-day moving average is $98.34. The firm has a market cap of $97.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.30.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. The business had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.02, for a total transaction of $896,160.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 155,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,450,923.68. This trade represents a 4.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.61, for a total transaction of $9,248,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,500,155.36. The trade was a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 412,355 shares of company stock worth $39,446,799 over the last three months. Company insiders own 3.54% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Arista Networks during the third quarter worth $123,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Arista Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,752,000. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Arista Networks during the third quarter worth about $401,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Arista Networks during the third quarter worth approximately $2,222,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in Arista Networks by 5.6% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 37,383 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $14,348,000 after buying an additional 1,998 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.