KeyCorp Raises Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Price Target to $145.00

Key Points

• KeyCorp raised its price target for Arista Networks from $115.00 to $145.00, indicating a potential upside of 6.24% from the company's previous close.
• Arista Networks reported a 15.5% increase in stock price and a revenue growth of 30.4% year-over-year, surpassing earnings expectations with an EPS of $0.73.
• A recent share buyback program allows Arista to repurchase up to $1.50 billion of its shares, reflecting the board's belief that the stock is undervalued.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) had its price target hoisted by KeyCorp from $115.00 to $145.00 in a research note published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the technology company's stock.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on ANET. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI set a $150.00 target price on Arista Networks and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Arista Networks from $112.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $138.07.

Arista Networks Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of ANET traded up $0.48 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $139.26. The company had a trading volume of 11,033,466 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,939,822. The stock has a market cap of $174.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.77, a PEG ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.37. The company's 50 day moving average price is $104.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $95.41. Arista Networks has a 52 week low of $59.43 and a 52 week high of $141.01.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 40.90%. The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. Arista Networks's quarterly revenue was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate 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 buyback program on Tuesday, May 6th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 864 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.68, for a total transaction of $99,083.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $855,512.80. This trade represents a 10.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 26,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.19, for a total value of $2,890,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 582,400 shares in the company, valued at $64,757,056. This trade represents a 4.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,443,742 shares of company stock valued at $395,523,885 over the last ninety days. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ANET. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 321.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,806 shares of the technology company's stock worth $863,000 after buying an additional 5,955 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Arista Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $202,000. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its position in Arista Networks by 433.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 10,856 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,200,000 after purchasing an additional 8,822 shares during the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 193.2% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. 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.