Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price Down 1.8% – Here’s What Happened

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) shares dropped 1.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $78.00 and last traded at $80.20. Approximately 3,258,963 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 62% from the average daily volume of 8,562,647 shares. The stock had previously closed at $81.66.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “sell” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $108.00 price objective (up from $106.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.00.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $99.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $101.66. The firm has a market cap of $98.25 billion, a PE ratio of 35.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.51, for a total transaction of $892,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 163,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,263,553.84. The trade was a 4.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.88, for a total value of $12,988,391.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 92,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,697,137.08. This represents a 59.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 491,001 shares of company stock worth $49,112,111 in the last quarter. 3.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 35.0% during the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 135 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,621 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $622,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC raised its position in Arista Networks by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 1,368 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $528,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,177 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $453,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its position in Arista Networks by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 5,158 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,980,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.