Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Down 5.2% – Should You Sell?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s share price dropped 5.2% on Monday . The company traded as low as $67.45 and last traded at $67.52. Approximately 1,871,627 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 11,196,579 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.20.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ANET has been the subject of several recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Arista Networks from $118.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $121.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $108.00 to $76.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $106.07.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $84.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.02, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $84.23 and a 200-day moving average of $99.30.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.55, for a total transaction of $620,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 139,784 shares in the company, valued at $10,840,249.20. The trade was a 5.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,101,013.60. This trade represents a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 411,031 shares of company stock worth $39,364,943 in the last quarter. 3.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new stake in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth approximately $242,000. GHE LLC raised its position in Arista Networks by 319.0% in the 4th quarter. GHE LLC now owns 28,368 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,136,000 after purchasing an additional 21,597 shares during the period. Colonial River Investments LLC boosted its position in Arista Networks by 327.6% during the fourth quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC now owns 9,745 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,077,000 after buying an additional 7,466 shares during the period. Unified Investment Management purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $630,000. Finally, Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 257.6% during the 4th quarter. Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. now owns 76,950 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,505,000 after acquiring an additional 55,430 shares during the period. 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.