Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Lowered to Hold Rating by BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas cut shares of Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

ANET has been the subject of several other reports. UBS Group upgraded Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Arista Networks from $73.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Erste Group Bank cut Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Arista Networks from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $107.38.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of ANET stock opened at $94.25 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $118.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.46, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.48. Arista Networks has a 1-year low of $59.43 and a 1-year high of $133.58.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Arista Networks will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In related news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.18, for a total transaction of $705,440.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 123,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,915,273.12. This represents a 6.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.07, for a total value of $7,205,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,168,748.32. The trade was a 86.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 105,690 shares of company stock worth $9,360,205. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 97,856,933 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,581,955,000 after acquiring an additional 1,771,982 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Arista Networks by 330.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,371,848,000 after purchasing an additional 44,269,572 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its position in Arista Networks by 277.5% in the 4th quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,016,207,000 after purchasing an additional 20,059,303 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Arista Networks by 311.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,665,829,000 after purchasing an additional 18,293,874 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in Arista Networks by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 22,959,214 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,778,880,000 after purchasing an additional 1,889,198 shares in 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.