Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Price Target Raised to $265.00

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) had its price target hoisted by Rosenblatt Securities from $220.00 to $265.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Rosenblatt Securities currently has a sell rating on the technology company’s stock.

ANET has been the topic of several other reports. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $340.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $311.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Erste Group Bank reissued a buy rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $325.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $353.38.

Arista Networks Trading Down 5.7 %

NYSE ANET opened at $319.34 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $100.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.48, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50 day moving average of $332.16 and a 200-day moving average of $297.97. Arista Networks has a 1-year low of $168.25 and a 1-year high of $376.50.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.38. Arista Networks had a net margin of 39.01% and a return on equity of 30.50%. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.66 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.41 earnings per share. Arista Networks’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Arista Networks will post 7.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, May 7th that permits the company to buyback $1.20 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In related news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.91, for a total transaction of $97,867.96. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,570 shares in the company, valued at $706,518.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.91, for a total transaction of $97,867.96. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,570 shares in the company, valued at $706,518.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.00, for a total transaction of $7,925,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,615,800 shares in the company, valued at $512,208,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 205,116 shares of company stock valued at $67,657,035 over the last three months. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Arista Networks by 5.7% in the 4th 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. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Arista Networks by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,136,348 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,387,211,000 after buying an additional 55,312 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC increased 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 valued at $884,270,000 after buying an additional 25,196 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Arista Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $881,848,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Arista Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $586,051,000. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.