Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Up 2.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

Error: Response status code does not indicate success: 429 (Too Many Requests).

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report)'s stock price was up 2.2% during trading on Thursday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $100.00 to $120.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Arista Networks traded as high as $125.81 and last traded at $124.77. Approximately 5,554,400 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 47% from the average daily volume of 10,492,178 shares. The stock had previously closed at $122.09.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on ANET. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Erste Group Bank raised Arista Networks from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. BNP Paribas Exane cut Arista Networks from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $106.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $114.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.36, for a total transaction of $794,880.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 65,784 shares in the company, valued at $6,536,298.24. This represents a 10.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 30,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.19, for a total value of $3,335,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,442,801.44. The trade was a 69.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,346,742 shares of company stock worth $256,664,827. Corporate insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 381.5% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 260 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 415.7% in the 4th quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 263 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, REAP Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 108.0% in the second quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 337 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The business's 50 day simple moving average is $100.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.48, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.40.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 40.72%. The business had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.