Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Down 8.2% After Insider Selling

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) dropped 8.2% during mid-day trading on Friday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $62.42 and last traded at $65.46. Approximately 6,789,404 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 24% from the average daily volume of 8,917,349 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.27.

Specifically, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.55, for a total value of $620,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 139,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,840,249.20. The trade was a 5.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on ANET. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $108.00 price target (up previously from $106.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com cut shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.00.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $81.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.96, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $94.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $101.21.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its quarterly 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 29.91%. The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 304.2% during 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 during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in Arista Networks by 330.9% during the 4th 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 increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 277.5% in the 4th quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,016,207,000 after acquiring an additional 20,059,303 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 311.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,665,829,000 after acquiring an additional 18,293,874 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 14,454,822 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

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.