Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Up 8.1% on Analyst Upgrade

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) shares shot up 8.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $73.00 to $100.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Arista Networks traded as high as $89.30 and last traded at $88.95. 6,885,528 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 25% from the average session volume of 9,125,878 shares. The stock had previously closed at $82.27.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on ANET. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Arista Networks from $108.00 to $76.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.36.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Marc Taxay sold 51,848 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total value of $4,593,214.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.02, for a total value of $896,160.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 155,784 shares in the company, valued at $17,450,923.68. The trade was a 4.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 412,355 shares of company stock valued at $39,446,799. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Optimum Investment Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 31.3% in the 1st quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 525 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Arista Networks by 45.8% in the first quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 455 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Caitlin John LLC lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 174.7% during the fourth quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 239 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Weaver Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Arista Networks by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 21,449 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,662,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First American Bank raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. First American Bank now owns 14,478 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,122,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average of $79.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $97.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $114.36 billion, a PE ratio of 41.03, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.30.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. On average, equities analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.