Arista Networks Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:ANET)

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Investors purchased 41,980 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 14% compared to the typical volume of 36,766 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.02, for a total value of $896,160.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 155,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,450,923.68. This represents a 4.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total value of $159,409.44. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 8,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $870,752.64. The trade was a 15.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 411,031 shares of company stock valued at $39,364,943. Corporate insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ANET. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new position in Arista Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $242,000. GHE LLC raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 319.0% in the fourth quarter. GHE LLC now owns 28,368 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,136,000 after purchasing an additional 21,597 shares in the last quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 327.6% in the fourth quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC now owns 9,745 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,077,000 after purchasing an additional 7,466 shares in the last quarter. Unified Investment Management bought a new position in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth $630,000. Finally, Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 257.6% in the 4th quarter. Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. now owns 76,950 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,505,000 after buying an additional 55,430 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Stock Up 9.2 %

ANET opened at $75.86 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $90.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $100.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.30. Arista Networks has a 12-month low of $59.43 and a 12-month high of $133.58.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

ANET has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com lowered Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $108.50.

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.