Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $107.14.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ANET shares. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup increased their target price on Arista Networks from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,492 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.49, for a total value of $102,187.08. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $512,305.20. This represents a 16.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John F. Mccool sold 17,433 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.14, for a total transaction of $1,623,709.62. Following the sale, the insider now owns 17,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,623,709.62. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 410,867 shares of company stock valued at $37,056,669. Corporate insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $15,818,000. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 11.9% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 97,201 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,531,000 after purchasing an additional 10,302 shares in the last quarter. Logan Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 0.5% in the first quarter. Logan Capital Management Inc. now owns 161,152 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,486,000 after purchasing an additional 853 shares during the period. MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the first quarter valued at approximately $293,000. Finally, Ascent Group LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks by 26.0% during the 1st quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 129,994 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,072,000 after buying an additional 26,828 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of ANET opened at $96.31 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $120.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.38, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. Arista Networks has a 1-year low of $59.43 and a 1-year high of $133.58. The company has a 50-day moving average of $80.29 and a 200 day moving average of $97.20.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Arista Networks will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.