Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Sets New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Friday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $311.00 to $320.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Arista Networks traded as high as $311.43 and last traded at $307.85, with a volume of 1076327 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $296.07.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on ANET. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Arista Networks from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, April 12th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Arista Networks from $306.00 to $349.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $293.00.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 356 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.91, for a total transaction of $97,867.96. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,570 shares in the company, valued at $706,518.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Arista Networks news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 356 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.91, for a total value of $97,867.96. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $706,518.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.77, for a total value of $388,155.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 17,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,575,312.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 337,410 shares of company stock worth $96,626,954. Corporate insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Larson Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. First Command Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Arista Networks by 872.7% in the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 107 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Arista Networks in the third quarter worth about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $279.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $251.54. The stock has a market cap of $96.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.98, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.13.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The technology company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.38. Arista Networks had a net margin of 35.62% and a return on equity of 31.44%. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.25 EPS. Arista Networks’s revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 6.74 EPS for the current year.

Arista Networks declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.20 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.