Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Down 3% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) fell 3% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $72.17 and last traded at $73.71. 2,854,702 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 9,142,712 shares. The stock had previously closed at $76.00.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $118.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $108.50.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $91.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $88.74 and its 200-day moving average is $100.12.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In related news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.02, for a total transaction of $896,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 155,784 shares in the company, valued at $17,450,923.68. This represents a 4.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.85, for a total value of $6,788,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,101,013.60. This trade represents a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 411,031 shares of company stock worth $39,364,943 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 304.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,620,270,000 after purchasing an additional 72,311,318 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 44,269,572 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised 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 buying an additional 20,059,303 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 18,293,874 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 218.5% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,328,869,000 after acquiring an additional 14,454,822 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.