Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Up 0.6% - Should You Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 0.6% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $83.54 and last traded at $83.46. 2,132,071 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 8,556,563 shares. The stock had previously closed at $82.97.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ANET has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com lowered Arista Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $108.00 price target (up previously from $106.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Arista Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. One 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, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $114.00.

Remove Ads

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The company's fifty day moving average price is $102.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $101.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $109.13 billion, a PE ratio of 38.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, SVP Marc Taxay sold 51,848 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total transaction of $4,593,214.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.85, for a total value of $6,788,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,101,013.60. This trade represents a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 491,001 shares of company stock worth $49,112,111. 3.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. DSG Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,984,000. Objective Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 244.0% during the fourth quarter. Objective Capital Management LLC now owns 3,516 shares of the technology company's stock worth $389,000 after purchasing an additional 2,494 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 535.7% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 520,832 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $57,568,000 after purchasing an additional 438,899 shares during the period. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 346.5% during the 4th quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 9,538 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,054,000 after purchasing an additional 7,402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its stake in Arista Networks by 415.3% during the 4th quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 11,775 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,301,000 after buying an additional 9,490 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.