JPMorgan Chase & Co. Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its price target on Arista to $200 (from $190) and kept an "overweight" rating, implying roughly a 25.14% upside from the prior close.
• Arista beat quarterly expectations with $0.82 EPS versus $0.75 est. and $2.49B revenue versus $2.38B, with revenue up 28.9% year-over-year and strong profitability (net margin 38.99%, ROE 30.37%).
• Significant insider selling has occurred recently — insiders disposed of 312,444 shares (~$43.8M) in the last 90 days (including CEO sales), leaving insiders owning 3.39% of the company.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) had its price target increased by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $190.00 to $200.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the technology company's stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s price target suggests a potential upside of 25.14% from the stock's previous close.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $184.00 price target (up from $183.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $188.00 price target (up from $165.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, February 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $177.83.

Arista Networks Price Performance

ANET stock traded up $5.49 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $159.82. 4,763,086 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,777,203. The firm has a market cap of $200.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.83, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.48. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $135.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $136.08. Arista Networks has a 1-year low of $66.59 and a 1-year high of $164.94.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The technology company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.38 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.99% and a return on equity of 30.37%. The firm's revenue was up 28.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Arista Networks will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total transaction of $4,292,480.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,740,600.64. This trade represents a 71.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 112,812 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.11, for a total transaction of $16,934,209.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,917 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,488,640.87. The trade was a 91.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 312,444 shares of company stock valued at $43,807,814 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ANET. Global Trust Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 33.0% during the third quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 19,273 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,808,000 after acquiring an additional 4,780 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the third quarter valued at about $8,263,000. National Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the third quarter valued at about $1,296,000. Three Seasons Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the third quarter valued at about $2,483,000. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 38.3% during the third quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 662,139 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $96,480,000 after acquiring an additional 183,515 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Arista Networks

Arista Networks, Inc is a technology company that designs and sells cloud networking solutions for large-scale data centers and enterprise environments. The company is best known for its high-performance switching and routing platforms, which are used to build scalable, low-latency networks for cloud service providers, internet companies, financial services, telecommunications, and enterprise IT. Arista's offerings emphasize programmability, automation and telemetry to support modern, software-driven network architectures.

Central to Arista's product portfolio is its Extensible Operating System (EOS), a modular network operating system that provides consistent programmability, stateful control and advanced visibility across the company's hardware platforms.

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