Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price Down 0.2%

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) shares dropped 0.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $289.39 and last traded at $291.12. Approximately 466,833 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 2,504,048 shares. The stock had previously closed at $291.67.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $306.00 to $349.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Arista Networks from $313.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays lifted their price target on Arista Networks from $311.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Arista Networks from $297.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $293.00.

Arista Networks Stock Up 1.5 %

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $279.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $251.25. The company has a market capitalization of $92.60 billion, a PE ratio of 44.31, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.13.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The technology company reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.44% and a net margin of 35.62%. Arista Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.25 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 6.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.20 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to buy up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.52, for a total transaction of $573,040.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 60,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,462,247.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.52, for a total value of $573,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 60,946 shares in the company, valued at $17,462,247.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 87,418 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.81, for a total value of $24,373,012.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 17,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,929,639.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 337,054 shares of company stock worth $96,529,086 in the last quarter. 3.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

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