Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Down 0.3% – Here’s Why

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s share price dropped 0.3% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $82.94 and last traded at $84.13. Approximately 1,395,194 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 8,579,426 shares. The stock had previously closed at $84.42.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on ANET. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “sell” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com lowered Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $108.00 target price (up previously from $106.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut shares of Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. One research 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $114.00.

Arista Networks Stock Down 1.3 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $105.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $103.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $101.77.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.88, for a total transaction of $12,988,391.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,641 shares in the company, valued at $8,697,137.08. This represents a 59.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.51, for a total transaction of $892,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 163,784 shares in the company, valued at $18,263,553.84. This represents a 4.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 491,001 shares of company stock worth $49,112,111 over the last ninety days. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 304.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,620,270,000 after purchasing an additional 72,311,318 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in Arista Networks by 330.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,371,848,000 after buying an additional 44,269,572 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 277.5% in 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 buying an additional 20,059,303 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Arista Networks by 311.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,665,829,000 after acquiring an additional 18,293,874 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 218.5% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,328,869,000 after acquiring an additional 14,454,822 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.