Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading 1.3% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) was up 1.3% during trading on Tuesday after Evercore ISI raised their price target on the stock from $105.00 to $110.00. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Arista Networks traded as high as $95.00 and last traded at $93.18. Approximately 3,085,661 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 66% from the average daily volume of 9,018,140 shares. The stock had previously closed at $91.95.

ANET has been the subject of several other reports. Barclays reduced their price target on Arista Networks from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Wedbush started coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $89.00 price objective (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $108.87.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.23, for a total value of $2,766,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,196,776.48. This represents a 69.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,492 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.49, for a total transaction of $102,187.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $512,305.20. This trade represents a 16.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 161,690 shares of company stock worth $14,525,085 in the last ninety days. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ANET. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 335.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 248 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 381.5% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 260 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 415.7% in the 4th quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 263 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC acquired a new stake in Arista Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in Arista Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $119.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.22, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $95.73.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 40.72%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors 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.