Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Raised to Buy at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $320.00 target price on the technology company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $240.00.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $225.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Melius Research upgraded Arista Networks from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $300.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI restated an outperform rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Arista Networks from $297.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a buy rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $285.53.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ANET opened at $274.40 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $85.79 billion, a PE ratio of 41.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.13. Arista Networks has a 52 week low of $131.68 and a 52 week high of $307.74. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $279.07 and its 200-day moving average is $250.02.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The technology company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.44% and a net margin of 35.62%. The business’s revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.25 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Arista Networks will post 6.74 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John F. Mccool sold 420 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.08, for a total value of $111,753.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 87,418 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.81, for a total value of $24,373,012.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 17,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,929,639.61. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John F. Mccool sold 420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.08, for a total value of $111,753.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 335,974 shares of company stock valued at $96,252,685. 18.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,494,876 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,946,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596,040 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Arista Networks by 32.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,318,633 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,897,906,000 after purchasing an additional 2,515,864 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,136,348 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,387,211,000 after acquiring an additional 55,312 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,049,416 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $884,270,000 after purchasing an additional 25,196 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $586,051,000. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.