Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $121.50, but opened at $126.18. Arista Networks shares last traded at $129.09, with a volume of 1,325,350 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ANET shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Arista Networks from $97.50 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Barclays dropped their price target on Arista Networks from $495.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $105.83.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $109.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $97.69. The company has a market cap of $162.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.08.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.76 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.97 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.30, for a total transaction of $786,360.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 179,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,671,868.28. This represents a 4.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John F. Mccool sold 2,336 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.83, for a total value of $226,200.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,887.76. The trade was a 89.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 343,992 shares of company stock worth $37,634,420. Corporate insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. grew its position in Arista Networks by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. now owns 63,244 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $24,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,219 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. increased its position in Arista Networks by 69.8% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 9,028 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,465,000 after acquiring an additional 3,711 shares during the last quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Arista Networks in the third quarter valued at about $2,318,000. Greenleaf Trust boosted its position in Arista Networks by 20.1% in the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 13,224 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,076,000 after purchasing an additional 2,216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 72,800 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,942,000 after purchasing an additional 6,600 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.