Insider Selling: Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Director Sells 356 Shares of Stock

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.91, for a total value of $97,867.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $706,518.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Kelly Bodnar Battles also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, February 13th, Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 278 shares of Arista Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.81, for a total transaction of $73,895.18.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

ANET stock traded up $13.05 during trading on Friday, reaching $309.12. 960,783 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,506,217. The company has a market capitalization of $96.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $279.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $251.54. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $133.42 and a 12 month high of $311.43.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 12th. The technology company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 35.62% and a return on equity of 31.44%. Arista Networks’s revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.25 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 6.74 EPS for the current year.

Arista Networks announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.20 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Arista Networks by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 21,642 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,981,000 after acquiring an additional 3,005 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 4.3% during the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 2,532 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Advisor Partners II LLC boosted its position in Arista Networks by 1.2% in the third quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 10,265 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,888,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 1,485 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $273,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the period. Finally, TIAA Trust National Association purchased a new position in Arista Networks during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $13,406,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on ANET. Barclays raised their price target on Arista Networks from $311.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “sell” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, April 12th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. KeyCorp raised their price target on Arista Networks from $306.00 to $349.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $293.00.

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.