Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Price Target Raised to $340.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) had its price target upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $310.00 to $340.00 in a report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also commented on ANET. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a buy rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group upped their price target on Arista Networks from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $313.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $297.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a sell rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, April 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $292.50.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of ANET stock opened at $290.93 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $90.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.39, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $279.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $251.25. Arista Networks has a twelve month low of $133.42 and a twelve month high of $307.74.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 12th. The technology company reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.38. Arista Networks had a net margin of 35.62% and a return on equity of 31.44%. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. Arista Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Arista Networks will post 6.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other news, Director Yvonne Wassenaar sold 224 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.29, for a total transaction of $57,184.96. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $721,704.83. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 20,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.31, for a total transaction of $5,686,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $922,301.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Yvonne Wassenaar sold 224 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.29, for a total transaction of $57,184.96. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $721,704.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 337,054 shares of company stock valued at $96,529,086. 3.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 20.8% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 304,698 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $88,356,000 after buying an additional 52,411 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 18.7% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 943,694 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $273,652,000 after acquiring an additional 148,759 shares during the last quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 0.3% in the first quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 55,283 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $16,031,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the period. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 350.8% during the first quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 41,404 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,006,000 after acquiring an additional 32,219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 5.9% during the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 4,709 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,366,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

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.