Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading 1.6% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) shot up 1.6% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $133.58 and last traded at $131.14. 2,686,755 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 56% from the average session volume of 6,173,646 shares. The stock had previously closed at $129.12.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ANET. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Arista Networks from $66.25 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $96.25 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Arista Networks from $92.25 to $106.25 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Arista Networks from $97.50 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $105.83.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $162.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $110.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.16.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.97 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Marc Taxay sold 2,496 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.83, for a total value of $241,693.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of Arista Networks 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 sale, the director now owns 179,784 shares in the company, valued at $17,671,868.28. This represents a 4.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 343,992 shares of company stock worth $37,634,420 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in Arista Networks by 3.8% in 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 during the period. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 293.2% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 6,750,793 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $746,165,000 after purchasing an additional 5,034,022 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Arista Networks by 307.7% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,632,730 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $512,056,000 after buying an additional 3,496,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Arista Networks by 22.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,660,695 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,021,228,000 after buying an additional 492,615 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.