Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading 1.7% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s share price rose 1.7% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $115.78 and last traded at $114.19. Approximately 1,811,528 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 8,972,675 shares. The stock had previously closed at $112.32.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on ANET. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Arista Networks from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 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 research report on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective 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. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.83.

Arista Networks Stock Up 2.4 %

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $112.28 and a 200 day moving average of $99.36. The firm has a market cap of $144.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.09.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.76 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.52% and a net margin of 40.29%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.41 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arista Networks news, insider John F. Mccool sold 6,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.58, for a total value of $625,013.05. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,391.76. The trade was a 95.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.47, for a total transaction of $9,477,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,537,266.72. This represents a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 247,832 shares of company stock worth $27,642,337 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 8.5% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 52,476 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $20,141,000 after buying an additional 4,108 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co raised its position in Arista Networks by 87.1% in the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,158 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,980,000 after buying an additional 2,401 shares during the last quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. bought a new stake in Arista Networks in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,106,000. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,544,000. Finally, Chesley Taft & Associates LLC purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the third quarter worth $2,275,000. 82.47% of the stock is 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.