Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Up 3.2% – Here’s What Happened

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) traded up 3.2% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $139.48 and last traded at $139.16. 8,290,697 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 4% from the average session volume of 8,672,354 shares. The stock had previously closed at $134.83.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $178.00 price target (up from $170.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target 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. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $175.00 price target (up from $159.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.88.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $167.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.46. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $134.45 and its 200-day moving average is $137.15.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.38 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.99% and a return on equity of 30.37%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 28.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, insider Kenneth Duda sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total value of $3,701,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 512,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $72,940,140. This represents a 4.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.67, for a total value of $1,029,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $229,547.28. This represents a 81.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 196,237 shares of company stock worth $25,865,760. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 18,509 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,697,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 16,085 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,133,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 56.7% during the third quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 199 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. United Asset Strategies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 6,311 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $827,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crown Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 2.4% in the third quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,175 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $463,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Company Profile

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.