Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price Down 0.1% – Time to Sell?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s stock price dropped 0.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $78.47 and last traded at $80.21. Approximately 1,881,158 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 8,723,967 shares. The stock had previously closed at $80.25.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ANET has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $114.00.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $105.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $101.71. The company has a market capitalization of $105.41 billion, a PE ratio of 37.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.51, for a total value of $892,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 163,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,263,553.84. This trade represents a 4.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Marc Taxay sold 51,848 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total value of $4,593,214.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 491,001 shares of company stock worth $49,112,111. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 304.2% in the 4th 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 increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 330.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,371,848,000 after purchasing an additional 44,269,572 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 20,059,303 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks by 311.6% during 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 buying an additional 18,293,874 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 14,454,822 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

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.