Arista Networks Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:ANET)

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 26,542 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 55% compared to the typical volume of 17,088 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ANET shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Arista Networks from $97.50 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $66.25 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $105.25 price target (up previously from $86.25) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.83.

Arista Networks Stock Up 5.9 %

ANET traded up $5.91 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $106.21. 20,660,059 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,957,494. Arista Networks has a 12-month low of $60.08 and a 12-month high of $133.57. The company’s 50-day moving average is $110.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $98.33. The company has a market cap of $133.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.08.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.76 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.29% and a return on equity of 30.52%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Arista Networks will post 1.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.47, for a total transaction of $9,477,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,537,266.72. This trade represents a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.51, for a total transaction of $892,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 163,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,263,553.84. The trade was a 4.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 343,992 shares of company stock worth $37,634,420. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in Arista Networks by 3.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,237,635 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,313,229,000 after purchasing an additional 411,109 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its position in Arista Networks by 293.2% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 6,750,793 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $746,165,000 after acquiring an additional 5,034,022 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks by 292.8% in the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 6,053,181 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $674,627,000 after acquiring an additional 4,512,166 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Arista Networks by 4.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,871,481 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,246,705,000 after purchasing an additional 236,151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 307.7% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,632,730 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $512,056,000 after purchasing an additional 3,496,497 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.