Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) shares hit a new 52-week high on Friday . The company traded as high as $112.46 and last traded at $110.79, with a volume of 1371812 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $106.88.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ANET shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Arista Networks from $100.00 to $106.25 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Arista Networks from $97.50 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $96.25 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.25 target price (up from $86.25) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.88.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $140.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.39, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $100.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $90.84.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.76 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.52% and a net margin of 40.29%. Arista Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.41 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Arista Networks news, insider John F. Mccool sold 288 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.70, for a total value of $31,305.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 3,344 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.67, for a total transaction of $323,264.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 70,724 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,836,889.08. This represents a 4.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 354,964 shares of company stock worth $36,974,705. Company insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 24.5% in the second quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 376 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $131,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Old Port Advisors increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 1,024 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Arista Networks by 170.7% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,394 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $489,000 after buying an additional 879 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 27.0% in the second quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 14,909 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,020,000 after buying an additional 3,167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Everpar Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 5.5% in the second quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 1,878 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $658,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

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.