Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price Up 5.2% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) were up 5.2% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $116.99 and last traded at $113.49. Approximately 5,022,026 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 44% from the average daily volume of 8,943,128 shares. The stock had previously closed at $107.84.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on Arista Networks from $96.25 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target 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. UBS Group upped 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. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $105.83.

Arista Networks Trading Up 5.6 %

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $111.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.50. The stock has a market cap of $143.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.08.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 prior year, the business earned $0.41 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.30, for a total transaction of $786,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 179,784 shares in the company, valued at $17,671,868.28. The trade was a 4.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John F. Mccool sold 2,336 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.83, for a total transaction of $226,200.72. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 288 shares in the company, valued at $27,887.76. This trade represents a 89.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 343,992 shares of company stock valued at $37,634,420 in the last quarter. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 301.6% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC now owns 6,357 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $703,000 after buying an additional 4,774 shares during the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 76.6% during the 4th quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,259 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $250,000 after acquiring an additional 980 shares during the period. Beacon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 266.3% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 348 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Seascape Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth $2,768,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 300.1% in the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 3,301 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,476 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is 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.