Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Up 1.4% - Here's What Happened

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) shares traded up 1.4% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $113.97 and last traded at $113.40. 861,429 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 2,737,767 shares. The stock had previously closed at $111.79.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $92.25 to $106.25 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Arista Networks from $97.50 to $115.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $105.25 target price (up previously from $86.25) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Arista Networks from $96.25 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $100.70.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $104.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $94.60. The stock has a market cap of $145.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.10.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.67, for a total transaction of $7,893,800.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,280,374.36. The trade was a 86.04 % 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 Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.30, for a total transaction of $786,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 179,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,671,868.28. This trade represents a 4.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 337,316 shares of company stock worth $35,286,096 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.54% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 97.2% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,794,586 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $628,966,000 after purchasing an additional 884,703 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Arista Networks by 39,841.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 875,110 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,358,850,000 after purchasing an additional 872,919 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 4,160.9% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 515,700 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $180,743,000 after purchasing an additional 503,597 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 22.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,660,695 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,021,228,000 after buying an additional 492,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 3.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,237,635 shares of the technology company's stock worth $4,313,229,000 after buying an additional 411,109 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.