Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Up 6.5% – Should You Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s stock price traded up 6.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $130.19 and last traded at $129.43. 3,192,405 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 46% from the average session volume of 5,966,801 shares. The stock had previously closed at $121.50.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.25 price objective (up previously from $86.25) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $66.25 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $92.25 to $106.25 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.83.

Arista Networks Stock Up 7.1 %

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $108.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $97.46. The company has a market capitalization of $163.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.60, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.47, for a total value of $9,477,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,537,266.72. This trade represents a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John F. Mccool sold 2,336 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.83, for a total value of $226,200.72. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 288 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,887.76. The trade was a 89.02 % 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 worth $37,614,089 in the last three months. 3.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Heartland Bank & Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 263.4% in the fourth quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co now owns 10,703 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,183,000 after buying an additional 7,758 shares in the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 289.5% during the fourth quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,299 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $807,000 after purchasing an additional 5,425 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 424.8% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 169,612 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $18,747,000 after purchasing an additional 137,293 shares during the period. Atticus Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks by 315.3% in the 4th quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,906 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 1,447 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 233.1% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 540,343 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $59,724,000 after buying an additional 378,125 shares in the last quarter. 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.