Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Hits New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) hit a new 52-week high on Friday after The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on the stock from $120.00 to $135.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Arista Networks traded as high as $120.28 and last traded at $119.88, with a volume of 1369065 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $118.13.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on ANET. Barclays dropped their target price on Arista Networks from $495.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $96.25 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $92.25 to $106.25 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $105.25 price objective (up previously from $86.25) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arista Networks news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,492 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.12, for a total transaction of $147,887.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 8,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $869,084.16. This trade represents a 14.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Marc Taxay sold 2,496 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.83, for a total value of $241,693.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 345,316 shares of company stock valued at $37,761,976 in the last three months. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. New Century Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks by 264.2% during the 4th quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 4,166 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $480,000 after buying an additional 3,022 shares during the period. FCG Investment Co raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 341.9% in the fourth quarter. FCG Investment Co now owns 18,400 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,034,000 after acquiring an additional 14,236 shares in the last quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 299.6% in the fourth quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,844 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $425,000 after purchasing an additional 2,882 shares during the period. Veracity Capital LLC grew its stake in Arista Networks by 312.9% during the 4th quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 14,129 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,562,000 after purchasing an additional 10,707 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 350.5% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 129,030 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $14,262,000 after purchasing an additional 100,390 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $107.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.96. The company has a market cap of $150.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.08.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.76 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.29% and a return on equity of 30.52%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.97 EPS for the current year.

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.