Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Citigroup Analyst Says

Key Points

• Citigroup analysts raised their price target for Arista Networks from $123.00 to $136.00, maintaining a "buy" rating, which suggests a potential downside of 1.97% from the current price.
• Arista Networks' stock has increased by 17.4% recently, reaching $138.73 during midday trading, with a market cap of $174.23 billion.
• The company reported earnings of $0.73 per share, surpassing expectations, with quarterly revenue growth of 30.4% compared to the previous year.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) had its price objective increased by analysts at Citigroup from $123.00 to $136.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the technology company's stock. Citigroup's price target would suggest a potential downside of 1.97% from the stock's current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on ANET. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Erste Group Bank raised Arista Networks from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. BNP Paribas lowered Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Arista Networks from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $135.79.

Arista Networks Trading Up 17.4%

Arista Networks stock traded up $20.61 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $138.73. The company's stock had a trading volume of 25,962,847 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,700,207. Arista Networks has a 52 week low of $59.43 and a 52 week high of $139.53. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $102.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $94.98. The stock has a market cap of $174.23 billion, a PE ratio of 58.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 1.37.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.11 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 40.72%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Arista Networks will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in 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 generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 880,180 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.79, for a total transaction of $109,837,662.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 5,944,405 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $741,802,299.95. This represents a 12.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.19, for a total value of $3,335,700.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,442,801.44. This trade represents a 69.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,443,742 shares of company stock valued at $395,523,885 in the last quarter. 3.39% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 321.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,806 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $863,000 after buying an additional 5,955 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $202,000. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 433.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 10,856 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,200,000 after buying an additional 8,822 shares in the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 193.2% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 98,094 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $10,397,000 after buying an additional 64,640 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

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.

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