Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading 4.4% Higher – Time to Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s share price was up 4.4% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $83.94 and last traded at $83.71. Approximately 2,421,876 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 10,831,388 shares. The stock had previously closed at $80.14.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ANET shares. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.00.

Arista Networks Stock Up 4.3 %

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $105.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $101.82. The company has a market cap of $105.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.65, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arista Networks news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.51, for a total transaction of $892,080.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 163,784 shares in the company, valued at $18,263,553.84. This represents a 4.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.85, for a total transaction of $6,788,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,101,013.60. This trade represents a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 491,001 shares of company stock worth $49,112,111 over the last three months. Company 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 ANET. Caitlin John LLC increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 174.7% during the fourth quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 239 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 335.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 248 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the period. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 300.0% during the fourth quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 264 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 300.0% during the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 264 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the period. Finally, New Millennium Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 300.0% during the fourth quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 260 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.