Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Price Target Raised to $155.00 at Needham & Company LLC

Key Points

• Needham & Company LLC raised the price target for Arista Networks from $130.00 to $155.00, indicating a potential upside of 31.27% from its current price.
• Arista Networks reported a 30.4% increase in quarterly revenue year-over-year, achieving $2.20 billion against the estimated $2.11 billion, while beating earnings per share estimates.
• Insider transactions revealed that CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 880,180 shares of stock, representing a 12.90% decrease in her ownership, amidst a broader trend of institutional investment in the company.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) had its price target hoisted by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $130.00 to $155.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "buy" rating on the technology company's stock. Needham & Company LLC's price target suggests a potential upside of 11.30% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on ANET. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $112.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on Arista Networks in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $89.00 price objective (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $150.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $138.07.

Arista Networks Stock Up 0.3%

NYSE ANET traded up $0.48 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $139.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 11,033,466 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,939,822. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $104.55 and a 200 day moving average of $95.41. Arista Networks has a twelve month low of $59.43 and a twelve month high of $141.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $174.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.77, a PEG ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.37.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 40.90%. The firm's revenue was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Arista Networks will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arista Networks news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.01, for a total transaction of $936,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 57,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,761,305.84. The trade was a 12.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 864 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.68, for a total transaction of $99,083.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,460 shares in the company, valued at $855,512.80. The trade was a 10.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,443,742 shares of company stock worth $395,523,885 in the last quarter. Insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 97,856,933 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $7,581,955,000 after purchasing an additional 1,771,982 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 277.5% during the fourth quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,016,207,000 after buying an additional 20,059,303 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 9.0% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 22,959,214 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,778,880,000 after acquiring an additional 1,889,198 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the first quarter valued at about $933,626,000. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 330.8% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 11,292,585 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,248,169,000 after acquiring an additional 8,671,235 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.