Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Up 0.6% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) were up 0.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $83.54 and last traded at $83.46. Approximately 2,132,071 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 8,556,563 shares. The stock had previously closed at $82.97.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ANET shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $114.00.

Arista Networks Trading Up 0.3 %

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $103.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $101.64. The firm has a market cap of $104.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. Analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.85, for a total value of $6,788,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,101,013.60. This trade represents a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.88, for a total transaction of $12,988,391.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 92,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,697,137.08. This trade represents a 59.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 491,001 shares of company stock worth $49,112,111. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ANET. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 304.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,620,270,000 after acquiring an additional 72,311,318 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 330.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,371,848,000 after acquiring an additional 44,269,572 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 277.5% in the fourth quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,016,207,000 after acquiring an additional 20,059,303 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 311.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,665,829,000 after acquiring an additional 18,293,874 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 218.5% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,328,869,000 after acquiring an additional 14,454,822 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.