Kelly Bodnar Battles sells 216 shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET – Free Report) Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 216 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.02, for a total transaction of $69,988.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $883,278.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Arista Networks is up 0.4%

NYSE ANET shares rose $1.31 in midday trading on Friday, reaching $335.81. The company had a trading volume of 1,594,819 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,478,754. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $168.25 and a 1-year high of $376.50. The company has a market cap of $105.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.77, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50-day average price is $334.21 and its 200-day average price is $300.00.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30. The technology company reported $2.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst expectations of $1.66 billion. Arista Networks posted a return on equity of 30.50% and a net margin of 39.01%. The company’s revenue grew 15.9% year-over-year. During the same period last year, the company posted earnings per share of $1.41. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post earnings per share of $7.29 for the current year.

Arista Networks announced on Tuesday, May 7, that its board of directors has approved a stock repurchase plan that authorizes the company to buy back $1.20 billion worth of outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to buy back up to 1.4% of its shares through the open market. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional inflows and outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their holdings in the stock. L & S Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 0.8% in the second quarter. L & S Advisors Inc. now owns 6,358 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,228,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 3.9% in the second quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,293 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,607,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the period. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 41.4% in the second quarter. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. now owns 1,555 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $545,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Arista Networks by 99.9% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 268,889 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $94,240,000 after acquiring an additional 134,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI acquired a new position in Arista Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at around $612,000. 82.47% of the shares are currently held by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Upgrades and downgrades by analysts

Several research firms have recently commented on ANET. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Arista Networks from $340.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16. Citigroup increased their price target on Arista Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $375.00 price target on Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, July 31. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Arista Networks from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8. One research analyst rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $353.38.

Check out our latest stock analysis on ANET

Arista Networks Company Profile

(Get free report)

Arista Networks, Inc. develops, markets and sells data-driven client-to-cloud networking solutions for data centers, campuses and routing environments in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. Its cloud networking solutions consist of the Extensible Operating System (EOS), a publish-subscribe state-sharing network operating system, offered in combination with a range of networking appliances.