Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Down 2% – Here’s Why

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s share price dropped 2% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $109.09 and last traded at $112.07. Approximately 1,816,834 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 67% from the average daily volume of 5,572,404 shares. The stock had previously closed at $114.34.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $97.50 to $107.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Arista Networks from $100.00 to $106.25 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.25 price target (up previously from $86.25) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $96.25 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $97.50 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.42.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $107.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $96.46. The company has a market cap of $146.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.08.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.76 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.29% and a return on equity of 30.52%. Arista Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.47, for a total transaction of $9,477,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,537,266.72. This represents a 86.04 % 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 1,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.12, for a total transaction of $147,887.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 8,768 shares in the company, valued at $869,084.16. This represents a 14.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 345,316 shares of company stock worth $37,761,976 over the last three months. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Arista Networks by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 596,220 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $208,962,000 after purchasing an additional 32,480 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI bought a new stake in Arista Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $612,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 99.9% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 268,889 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $94,240,000 after acquiring an additional 134,389 shares during the last quarter. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 41.4% in the second quarter. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. now owns 1,555 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $545,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Arista Networks by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,293 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,607,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by 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.