Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading 1.6% Higher – What’s Next?

Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) rose 1.6% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $79.87 and last traded at $79.75. Approximately 1,546,927 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 8,850,457 shares. The stock had previously closed at $78.49.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ANET has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Erste Group Bank cut Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group raised Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $114.00.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $97.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $101.75. The firm has a market cap of $102.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.30.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.51, for a total value of $892,080.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 163,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,263,553.84. This trade represents a 4.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.85, for a total transaction of $6,788,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,101,013.60. The trade was a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 491,001 shares of company stock worth $49,112,111 over the last 90 days. 3.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 10,092 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,874,000 after buying an additional 1,900 shares during the last quarter. Atom Investors LP grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 490.9% during the third quarter. Atom Investors LP now owns 4,981 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,912,000 after purchasing an additional 4,138 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 12,994.4% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 11,785 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,523,000 after purchasing an additional 11,695 shares during the last quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 2.9% during the third quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 153,453 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $58,898,000 after purchasing an additional 4,304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,950,000. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.