Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading 2.7% Higher - Time to Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 2.7% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $112.32 and last traded at $112.06. 1,740,925 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 8,784,883 shares. The stock had previously closed at $109.07.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ANET has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Arista Networks from $97.50 to $115.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI lifted 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. UBS Group boosted their target price 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. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $105.25 price target (up previously from $86.25) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $66.25 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Arista Networks presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $100.70.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The stock's fifty day moving average is $102.00 and its 200-day moving average is $92.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $142.11 billion, a PE ratio of 54.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Insider Activity

In other Arista Networks news, insider John F. Mccool sold 288 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.70, for a total value of $31,305.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Marc Taxay sold 2,496 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.09, for a total value of $242,342.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 353,476 shares of company stock worth $36,841,998 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.54% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 3.8% during the 3rd 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. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks by 4.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,871,481 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,246,705,000 after acquiring an additional 236,151 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in 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 valued at $1,021,228,000 after purchasing an additional 492,615 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,283,573 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $876,481,000 after purchasing an additional 99,790 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,195,733 shares of the technology company's stock worth $769,560,000 after purchasing an additional 20,278 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.