Arista Networks’ (ANET) Buy Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $320.00 target price on the technology company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target points to a potential upside of 16.80% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently commented on ANET. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $232.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Barclays upped their price objective on Arista Networks from $272.00 to $311.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $297.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.53.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ANET opened at $273.97 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.65 billion, a PE ratio of 41.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.13. Arista Networks has a 52 week low of $133.42 and a 52 week high of $307.74. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $279.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $251.25.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 12th. The technology company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 35.62% and a return on equity of 31.44%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.25 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Arista Networks will post 6.74 EPS for the current year.

Arista Networks declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.20 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 value of $265,739.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Arista Networks news, insider John F. Mccool sold 416 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.54, for a total transaction of $105,888.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Marc Taxay sold 1,044 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 337,054 shares of company stock valued at $96,529,086. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new position in Arista Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. First Command Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 872.7% in the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 107 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Arista Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. 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.