Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price Down 2.9% – Should You Sell?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) fell 2.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $99.82 and last traded at $100.87. 4,906,262 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 50% from the average session volume of 9,728,888 shares. The stock had previously closed at $103.92.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ANET shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $125.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “sell” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $113.79.

Arista Networks Stock Down 2.5 %

The firm has a market cap of $127.65 billion, a PE ratio of 45.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $114.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $101.55.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 31.22%. The business had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. On average, analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total value of $159,409.44. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $870,752.64. This represents a 15.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.61, for a total transaction of $9,248,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,500,155.36. The trade was a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 259,944 shares of company stock worth $30,214,186. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. OLD National Bancorp IN grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 1,087 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $417,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 3,548 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,362,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 540 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $207,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 653 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $251,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vicus Capital bought a new position in Arista Networks during the 3rd quarter worth about $211,000. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.