Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) PT Raised to $302.00 at Piper Sandler

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) had its target price raised by equities research analysts at Piper Sandler from $268.00 to $302.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the technology company’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective points to a potential upside of 2.74% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Arista Networks from $313.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Arista Networks from $297.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Arista Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $240.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $289.06.

Arista Networks Price Performance

NYSE ANET traded up $19.95 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $293.94. The company had a trading volume of 4,851,245 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,495,272. Arista Networks has a fifty-two week low of $133.42 and a fifty-two week high of $307.74. The company has a market capitalization of $91.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.13. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $279.22 and its 200 day moving average is $251.25.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The technology company reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.38. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.44% and a net margin of 35.62%. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Arista Networks 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 allows the company to repurchase $1.20 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Marc Taxay sold 1,044 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.54, for a total transaction of $265,739.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, 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 transaction of $388,155.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 17,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,575,312.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Marc Taxay sold 1,044 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.54, for a total value of $265,739.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 337,054 shares of company stock valued at $96,529,086 over the last quarter. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. NBC Securities Inc. grew its position in Arista Networks by 21.5% in the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 215 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Sandy Spring Bank grew its position in Arista Networks by 33.6% in the fourth quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 155 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Arista Networks by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 694 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $163,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC grew its position in Arista Networks by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC now owns 2,255 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $531,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. grew its position in Arista Networks by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,267 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $298,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

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.