Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price Down 1.7% – Time to Sell?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s share price was down 1.7% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $89.35 and last traded at $91.13. Approximately 6,425,860 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 38% from the average daily volume of 10,287,232 shares. The stock had previously closed at $92.69.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ANET has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $125.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $106.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $113.79.

Arista Networks Trading Down 0.2 %

The stock has a market cap of $116.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $113.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $102.07.

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

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.29, for a total value of $8,663,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,405,171.04. This trade represents a 86.04 % 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, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $412.65, for a total transaction of $825,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 42,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,721,666.90. The trade was a 4.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 260,056 shares of company stock worth $30,225,623 over the last quarter. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 304.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,620,270,000 after buying an additional 72,311,318 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Arista Networks by 330.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,371,848,000 after acquiring an additional 44,269,572 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 277.5% during the fourth quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,016,207,000 after purchasing an additional 20,059,303 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 311.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,665,829,000 after purchasing an additional 18,293,874 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 218.5% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,328,869,000 after purchasing an additional 14,454,822 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.