Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Sees Strong Trading Volume After Analyst Upgrade

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Wednesday after KeyCorp raised their price target on the stock from $306.00 to $349.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Approximately 3,054,449 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 24% from the previous session’s volume of 2,469,421 shares.The stock last traded at $294.60 and had previously closed at $273.99.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Arista Networks from $313.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Arista Networks from $272.00 to $311.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 shares were sold at an average price of $278.81, for a total value of $24,373,012.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 17,681 shares in the company, valued at $4,929,639.61. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 87,418 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.81, for a total transaction of $24,373,012.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 17,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,929,639.61. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Marc Taxay sold 1,044 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.54, for a total transaction of $265,739.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 337,054 shares of company stock worth $96,529,086. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Arista Networks by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,494,876 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,946,338,000 after buying an additional 1,596,040 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 32.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,318,633 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,897,906,000 after acquiring an additional 2,515,864 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 55,312 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,049,416 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $884,270,000 after purchasing an additional 25,196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $586,051,000. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Trading Up 6.5 %

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $279.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $251.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.13.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 12th. The technology company reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.38. Arista Networks had a net margin of 35.62% and a return on equity of 31.44%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.25 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 6.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, May 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.20 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

About Arista Networks

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.