Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Up 0.6% – What’s Next?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) shares traded up 0.6% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $121.86 and last traded at $120.67. 1,153,233 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 5,778,666 shares. The stock had previously closed at $119.95.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ANET has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays reduced their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $97.50 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $66.25 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. One 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Arista Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.83.

Arista Networks Stock Up 1.3 %

The firm has a market cap of $153.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.41, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50 day moving average of $108.25 and a 200 day moving average of $97.25.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $412.65, for a total value of $825,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 42,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,721,666.90. This trade represents a 4.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.47, for a total transaction of $9,477,600.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,537,266.72. This represents a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 343,824 shares of company stock valued at $37,614,089 in the last quarter. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 3.6% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. increased its stake in Arista Networks by 69.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 9,028 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,465,000 after buying an additional 3,711 shares during the period. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,318,000. Greenleaf Trust lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 20.1% in the 3rd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 13,224 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,076,000 after acquiring an additional 2,216 shares during the period. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 10.0% during the third quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 72,800 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,942,000 after acquiring an additional 6,600 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.