Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading 0.3% Higher – Still a Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) traded up 0.3% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $117.22 and last traded at $115.80. 1,324,626 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 8,847,848 shares. The stock had previously closed at $115.49.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Arista Networks from $66.25 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com lowered Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $97.50 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Arista Networks from $495.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $105.83.

Arista Networks Trading Up 2.8 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $113.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $99.81. The stock has a market cap of $149.31 billion, a PE ratio of 56.98, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.09.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.76 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.52% and a net margin of 40.29%. Arista Networks’s revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. On average, 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, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 71,036 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.06, for a total value of $7,107,506.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 70,724 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,076,289.82. This trade represents a 50.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.29, for a total value of $8,663,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,405,171.04. The trade was a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 255,832 shares of company stock valued at $28,538,497. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 3.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,237,635 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,313,229,000 after buying an additional 411,109 shares during the period. Swedbank AB raised its stake in Arista Networks by 293.2% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 6,750,793 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $746,165,000 after acquiring an additional 5,034,022 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Arista Networks by 320.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,457,263 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $713,721,000 after acquiring an additional 4,919,882 shares during the period. Amundi grew its stake in Arista Networks by 196.3% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 6,342,064 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $732,493,000 after purchasing an additional 4,201,973 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 294.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,136,864 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $678,308,000 after purchasing an additional 4,579,622 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.