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

Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $330.00 to $385.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Arista Networks traded as high as $348.92 and last traded at $348.40, with a volume of 263370 shares. The stock had previously closed at $334.70.

ANET has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $297.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $310.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $311.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $311.50.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.26, for a total transaction of $592,520.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 58,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,463,341.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Arista Networks news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.26, for a total transaction of $592,520.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 58,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,463,341.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel Scheinman sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $328.17, for a total transaction of $328,170.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 37,732 shares in the company, valued at $12,382,510.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 212,950 shares of company stock valued at $64,987,920. 3.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Arista Networks by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 51,301 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,082,000 after purchasing an additional 3,763 shares in the last quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the 4th quarter worth $662,000. AXQ Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the 3rd quarter worth $791,000. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 42,809 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,082,000 after acquiring an additional 2,535 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisor Resource Council grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 507.9% in the 4th quarter. Advisor Resource Council now owns 7,021 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,653,000 after acquiring an additional 5,866 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $109.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.08. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $298.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $277.25.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 37.64% and a return on equity of 31.12%. On average, analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 7.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, May 7th that allows the company to buyback $1.20 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.