Wells Fargo & Company Boosts Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Price Target to $390.00

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) had its target price boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $340.00 to $390.00 in a research report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on ANET. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $297.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $320.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Needham & Company LLC restated a buy rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Arista Networks from $349.00 to $432.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Arista Networks from $340.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $333.12.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Arista Networks stock opened at $319.14 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $330.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $294.98. The stock has a market cap of $100.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.11. Arista Networks has a 1-year low of $149.10 and a 1-year high of $376.50.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.24. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.12% and a net margin of 37.64%. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. Equities analysts expect that Arista Networks will post 7.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.20 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.00, for a total value of $7,925,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,615,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $512,208,600. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, SVP Marc Taxay sold 1,044 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.54, for a total transaction of $265,739.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 25,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.00, for a total transaction of $7,925,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,615,800 shares in the company, valued at $512,208,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 210,076 shares of company stock valued at $68,928,479. 3.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ANET. Breakwater Capital Group purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $304,000. BLB&B Advisors LLC grew its position in Arista Networks by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC now owns 37,919 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $13,290,000 after buying an additional 3,233 shares during the last quarter. Conning Inc. increased its stake in Arista Networks by 12.1% in the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 1,245 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $436,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its position in Arista Networks by 80.3% during the 2nd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 8,408 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,947,000 after buying an additional 3,744 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Arista Networks by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,406 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,544,000 after buying an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.