Erste Group Bank Downgrades Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) to Hold

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Erste Group Bank from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on ANET. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.00.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Arista Networks stock opened at $83.96 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $105.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.82, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08. Arista Networks has a one year low of $60.08 and a one year high of $133.58. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $104.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $101.89.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Arista Networks will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.51, for a total value of $892,080.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 163,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,263,553.84. This trade represents a 4.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Marc Taxay sold 51,848 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total transaction of $4,593,214.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 491,001 shares of company stock valued at $49,112,111 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $242,000. GHE LLC raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 319.0% in the fourth quarter. GHE LLC now owns 28,368 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,136,000 after buying an additional 21,597 shares during the period. Colonial River Investments LLC raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 327.6% in the fourth quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC now owns 9,745 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,077,000 after buying an additional 7,466 shares during the period. Unified Investment Management purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $630,000. Finally, Silver Oak Securities Incorporated raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 395.8% in the fourth quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 18,593 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,072,000 after buying an additional 14,843 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.