Needham & Company LLC Cuts Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Price Target to $130.00

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) had its price target dropped by analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $145.00 to $130.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "buy" rating on the technology company's stock. Needham & Company LLC's price objective would suggest a potential upside of 50.90% from the company's current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on ANET. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Arista Networks from $73.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised Arista Networks from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $106.07.

Arista Networks Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of ANET stock traded down $1.12 on Wednesday, reaching $86.15. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,267,268 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,055,203. Arista Networks has a 12-month low of $59.43 and a 12-month high of $133.58. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $78.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.31. The company has a market capitalization of $108.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.81, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. Arista Networks's revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Arista Networks will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total transaction of $159,409.44. Following the transaction, the director now owns 8,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $870,752.64. This represents a 15.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.07, for a total value of $7,205,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,168,748.32. The trade was a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 412,355 shares of company stock valued at $37,216,079 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Arista Networks by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 339,556 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $130,328,000 after acquiring an additional 29,006 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 324.8% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 3,292 shares of the technology company's stock worth $364,000 after purchasing an additional 2,517 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 440.5% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 27,880 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,082,000 after buying an additional 22,722 shares during the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. raised its stake in Arista Networks by 310.1% during the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 21,569 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,384,000 after buying an additional 16,310 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 300.0% in the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 2,128 shares of the technology company's stock worth $235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,596 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

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.