Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price Up 5.5% - Still a Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 5.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $74.47 and last traded at $74.68. 3,289,951 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 64% from the average session volume of 9,082,651 shares. The stock had previously closed at $70.76.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $85.00 to $55.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Erste Group Bank downgraded Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $121.00 to $92.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $104.29.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $80.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $98.31. The firm has a market cap of $98.35 billion, a PE ratio of 35.28, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.30.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. Equities analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

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 value of $620,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 139,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,840,249.20. This represents a 5.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,492 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.49, for a total transaction of $102,187.08. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,480 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $512,305.20. This trade represents a 16.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 412,355 shares of company stock valued at $39,446,799. 3.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Arista Networks by 304.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $10,620,270,000 after purchasing an additional 72,311,318 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 330.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company's stock worth $6,371,848,000 after acquiring an additional 44,269,572 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 277.5% in the fourth quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,016,207,000 after purchasing an additional 20,059,303 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 311.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,665,829,000 after purchasing an additional 18,293,874 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Arista Networks by 218.5% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,328,869,000 after purchasing an additional 14,454,822 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.