Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 27th, there was short interest totaling 14,940,850 shares, a growth of 17.3% from the February 12th total of 12,739,253 shares. Approximately 1.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 8,121,315 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days. Based on an average daily volume of 8,121,315 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days. Approximately 1.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ANET has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $175.00 target price (up from $159.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, February 13th. UBS Group set a $200.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $184.00 price target (up from $183.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $176.47.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

ANET traded down $2.33 on Tuesday, hitting $133.02. The company had a trading volume of 5,953,926 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,136,263. The stock has a market capitalization of $167.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.46. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $134.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $137.32. Arista Networks has a 12-month low of $59.43 and a 12-month high of $164.94.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The technology company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.07. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.37% and a net margin of 38.99%.The company had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 28.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Arista Networks will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.43, for a total value of $1,123,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 9,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,373,967.12. This represents a 44.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Yvonne Wassenaar sold 1,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.44, for a total value of $240,378.60. Following the sale, the director directly owned 12,574 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,665,300.56. This represents a 12.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 196,237 shares of company stock valued at $25,865,760 over the last quarter. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 0.4% in the third quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 18,509 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,697,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 16,085 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,133,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 56.7% during the third quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 199 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. United Asset Strategies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 6,311 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $827,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crown Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,175 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $463,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

About Arista Networks

Arista Networks, Inc is a technology company that designs and sells cloud networking solutions for large-scale data centers and enterprise environments. The company is best known for its high-performance switching and routing platforms, which are used to build scalable, low-latency networks for cloud service providers, internet companies, financial services, telecommunications, and enterprise IT. Arista’s offerings emphasize programmability, automation and telemetry to support modern, software-driven network architectures.

Central to Arista’s product portfolio is its Extensible Operating System (EOS), a modular network operating system that provides consistent programmability, stateful control and advanced visibility across the company’s hardware platforms.