Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Up 6% - Time to Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded up 6% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $92.87 and last traded at $91.75. 3,194,308 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 65% from the average session volume of 9,033,123 shares. The stock had previously closed at $86.52.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ANET has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. KGI Securities downgraded shares of Arista Networks to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Evercore ISI decreased 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 report on Tuesday, April 15th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $73.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $106.07.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The business's fifty day moving average price is $78.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.29. The stock has a market cap of $115.87 billion, a PE ratio of 41.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. The company had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. Arista Networks's quarterly revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to buy up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.85, for a total value of $6,788,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,101,013.60. This represents a 86.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Marc Taxay sold 51,848 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total transaction of $4,593,214.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 412,355 shares of company stock worth $37,216,079 over the last quarter. Insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ANET. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 179.7% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 400 shares of the technology company's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Arista Networks by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 82,495 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $9,118,000 after acquiring an additional 562 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Arista Networks by 308.2% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 10,809 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,195,000 after acquiring an additional 8,161 shares during the period. HBW Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Arista Networks by 329.1% in the 4th quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,141 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $347,000 after acquiring an additional 2,409 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its stake in Arista Networks by 326.8% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 223,976 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $24,756,000 after acquiring an additional 171,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.