Citigroup Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) had its price target hoisted by equities research analysts at Citigroup from $112.00 to $123.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm currently has a "buy" rating on the technology company's stock. Citigroup's target price would suggest a potential upside of 15.59% from the stock's current price.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on ANET. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $73.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Erste Group Bank lowered Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered Arista Networks from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $106.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Finally, Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $110.07.

Arista Networks Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE ANET opened at $106.41 on Friday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $94.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $95.15. Arista Networks has a 1 year low of $59.43 and a 1 year high of $133.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The firm had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arista Networks news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.07, for a total transaction of $7,205,600.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,168,748.32. The trade was a 86.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 748,444 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.43, for a total transaction of $76,663,118.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 30,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,072,900. This represents a 96.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,123,370 shares of company stock valued at $113,157,408. 3.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 304.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company's stock worth $10,620,270,000 after purchasing an additional 72,311,318 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 330.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company's stock worth $6,371,848,000 after buying an additional 44,269,572 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Arista Networks by 277.5% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 311.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,665,829,000 after acquiring an additional 18,293,874 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in Arista Networks by 218.5% during the 4th 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 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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