Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Up 3.2% – Should You Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s share price shot up 3.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $133.78 and last traded at $132.9030. 7,171,352 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 19% from the average session volume of 8,862,741 shares. The stock had previously closed at $128.77.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $175.00 price objective (up from $159.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, February 13th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $184.00 target price (up from $183.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.88.

Arista Networks Trading Up 3.2%

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $133.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $137.47. The company has a market cap of $167.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.15, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.42.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 38.99% and a return on equity of 30.37%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other news, insider Kenneth Duda sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total transaction of $3,701,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 512,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,940,140. This represents a 4.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,373,967.12. This trade represents a 44.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 194,000 shares of company stock valued at $25,566,700 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Arista Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,228,177,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 2,829.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,721,156 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $833,630,000 after purchasing an additional 5,525,828 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 82.5% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 9,587,115 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,396,939,000 after acquiring an additional 4,332,659 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in Arista Networks by 3,182.7% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 4,012,373 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $525,741,000 after purchasing an additional 3,890,146 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 59.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,878,360 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,032,302,000 after buying an additional 2,934,098 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.