Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Up 2.6% - Should You Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) shares traded up 2.6% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $118.79 and last traded at $118.18. 1,976,289 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 48% from the average session volume of 3,799,963 shares. The stock had previously closed at $115.20.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ANET. StockNews.com lowered Arista Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Arista Networks from $92.25 to $106.25 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $100.00 to $106.25 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $97.50 to $107.50 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $96.25 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $100.70.

Arista Networks Trading Up 3.2 %

The stock has a market cap of $149.84 billion, a PE ratio of 57.18, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $105.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $95.19.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.76 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.29% and a return on equity of 30.52%. The company's revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other news, SVP Marc Taxay sold 2,496 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.83, for a total value of $241,693.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.09, for a total transaction of $8,407,200.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,363,647.84. This represents a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 265,316 shares of company stock worth $28,284,376. Corporate insiders own 3.54% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Market Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 307.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Market Strategies LLC now owns 5,294 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $585,000 after buying an additional 3,995 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 324.8% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 3,292 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $364,000 after acquiring an additional 2,517 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 300.0% during the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 29,760 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,289,000 after acquiring an additional 22,320 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 376.6% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 22,860 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,527,000 after purchasing an additional 18,064 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 514.8% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,408 shares of the technology company's stock worth $156,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179 shares during the last quarter. 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.