Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading 1.6% Higher – Still a Buy?

Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) were up 1.6% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $79.87 and last traded at $79.75. Approximately 1,546,927 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 8,850,457 shares. The stock had previously closed at $78.49.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $108.00 price objective (up from $106.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.00.

Arista Networks Trading Down 11.2 %

The firm has a market cap of $89.73 billion, a PE ratio of 32.05, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $95.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.39.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Equities analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.88, for a total transaction of $12,988,391.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,697,137.08. This represents a 59.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.02, for a total value of $896,160.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 155,784 shares in the company, valued at $17,450,923.68. This trade represents a 4.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 491,001 shares of company stock valued at $48,840,431 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ANET. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Arista Networks by 304.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,620,270,000 after purchasing an additional 72,311,318 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in Arista Networks by 330.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,371,848,000 after buying an additional 44,269,572 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 277.5% during the 4th quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,016,207,000 after buying an additional 20,059,303 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 311.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,665,829,000 after buying an additional 18,293,874 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 218.5% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,328,869,000 after acquiring an additional 14,454,822 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.