Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price Down 8.8% Following Insider Selling

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s stock price was down 8.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $72.55 and last traded at $73.07. Approximately 4,867,463 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 45% from the average daily volume of 8,858,577 shares. The stock had previously closed at $80.16.

Specifically, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.55, for a total value of $620,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 139,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,840,249.20. This trade represents a 5.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ANET. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $114.00.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $81.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $94.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $101.21.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in Arista Networks in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $740,000. First Hawaiian Bank acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the first quarter worth $2,766,000. Park National Corp OH purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the first quarter worth $27,053,000. Kera Capital Partners Inc. boosted its position in Arista Networks by 2.2% during the first quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. now owns 64,981 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,035,000 after purchasing an additional 1,395 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in Arista Networks by 7.7% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 3,357 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares in 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.