Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Down 2.4% – Time to Sell?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s share price was down 2.4% on Friday . The company traded as low as $82.16 and last traded at $82.32. Approximately 3,946,120 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 63% from the average daily volume of 10,764,095 shares. The stock had previously closed at $84.34.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on ANET. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $108.00 price objective (up from $106.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group raised Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $125.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $114.00.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $109.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $104.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.09.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its 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. 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 analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.47, for a total transaction of $9,477,600.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,537,266.72. The trade was a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 92,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,697,137.08. This trade represents a 59.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 411,289 shares of company stock valued at $42,355,417 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $438,000. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 4.9% in the third quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 640 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Catalina Capital Group LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks by 9.2% during the third quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 1,016 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 33.1% during the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,070,000 after purchasing an additional 693 shares during the period. Finally, D.B. Root & Company LLC bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the 3rd quarter worth about $216,000. 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.