Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Down 7.5% After Insider Selling

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s share price traded down 7.5% during trading on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $76.09 and last traded at $77.10. 5,139,480 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 41% from the average session volume of 8,694,235 shares. The stock had previously closed at $83.36.

Specifically, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.85, for a total value of $6,788,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,101,013.60. The trade was a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.03, for a total transaction of $712,240.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 147,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,157,209.52. This represents a 5.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In related news, SVP Marc Taxay sold 51,848 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total transaction of $4,593,214.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group raised shares of Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $114.00.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $99.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.62, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $107.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $102.03.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 2,133.3% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 134 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 35.0% in the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 135 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 52.5% in the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 183 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caitlin John LLC raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 174.7% in the fourth quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 239 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.