Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Short Interest Up 22.1% in December

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 13,630,000 shares, a growth of 22.1% from the November 30th total of 11,160,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 7,430,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of ANET stock traded down $0.92 on Tuesday, hitting $110.53. 3,380,970 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,681,578. The stock has a market capitalization of $139.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $103.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.17. Arista Networks has a one year low of $56.65 and a one year high of $116.94.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.08. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.52% and a net margin of 40.29%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.76 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Arista Networks will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group raised their target price on Arista Networks from $92.25 to $106.25 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $66.25 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Arista Networks from $495.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Arista Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.70.

Insider Activity

In other Arista Networks news, insider John F. Mccool sold 288 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.70, for a total transaction of $31,305.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 3,344 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.67, for a total value of $323,264.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 70,724 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,836,889.08. The trade was a 4.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 340,660 shares of company stock valued at $35,609,360 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 3.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,237,635 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,313,229,000 after acquiring an additional 411,109 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,871,481 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,246,705,000 after purchasing an additional 236,151 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 22.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,660,695 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,021,228,000 after purchasing an additional 492,615 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 4.6% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,283,573 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $876,481,000 after buying an additional 99,790 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Arista Networks by 0.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,195,733 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $769,560,000 after buying an additional 20,278 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

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.