Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at KeyCorp

KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued an overweight rating and a $115.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on ANET. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. KGI Securities cut Arista Networks to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Wedbush assumed coverage on Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. 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.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.33.

Arista Networks Trading Up 5.6%

Shares of Arista Networks stock opened at $101.71 on Thursday. Arista Networks has a twelve month low of $59.43 and a twelve month high of $133.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $127.74 billion, a PE ratio of 43.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $89.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $95.70.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. The business 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 was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Arista Networks will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In related news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.55, for a total transaction of $620,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 139,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,840,249.20. This represents a 5.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.23, for a total transaction of $2,766,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,196,776.48. This represents a 69.81% 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 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs acquired a new position in Arista Networks during the 1st quarter worth $3,139,000. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,081,391 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $548,666,000 after buying an additional 330,598 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 102.1% in the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 3,086,504 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $239,142,000 after buying an additional 1,559,453 shares during the period. eCIO Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the first quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Cim LLC increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 62.0% during the first quarter. Cim LLC now owns 191,915 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $14,870,000 after buying an additional 73,470 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

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.