Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price Up 1.3% - Should You Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 1.3% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $68.95 and last traded at $68.56. 2,006,740 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 9,086,028 shares. The stock had previously closed at $67.67.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ANET. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group upgraded Arista Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their target price on Arista Networks from $85.00 to $55.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $104.29.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $93.08 billion, a PE ratio of 33.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $81.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $98.68.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arista Networks news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.55, for a total transaction of $620,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 139,784 shares in the company, valued at $10,840,249.20. This represents a 5.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total value of $159,409.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,128 shares in the company, valued at $870,752.64. The trade was a 15.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 410,863 shares of company stock worth $39,344,612. Corporate insiders own 3.54% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Caitlin John LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 174.7% during the fourth quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 239 shares of the technology company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 335.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 248 shares of the technology company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. New Millennium Group LLC raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 300.0% during the fourth quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 260 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 381.5% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 260 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 415.7% in the fourth quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 263 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 212 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.