Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Down 1.4% on Insider Selling

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) shares dropped 1.4% during trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $271.87 and last traded at $274.86. Approximately 819,223 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 66% from the average daily volume of 2,431,459 shares. The stock had previously closed at $278.82.

Specifically, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.52, for a total transaction of $573,040.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 60,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,462,247.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.52, for a total value of $573,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 60,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,462,247.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Yvonne Wassenaar sold 224 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.29, for a total transaction of $57,184.96. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $721,704.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 337,054 shares of company stock valued at $96,529,086. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Arista Networks from $313.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $268.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Arista Networks from $272.00 to $311.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.50.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $279.22 and a 200 day moving average of $251.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.13.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 12th. The technology company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.38. Arista Networks had a net margin of 35.62% and a return on equity of 31.44%. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.25 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 6.74 EPS for the current year.

Arista Networks announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 7th that allows the company to buyback $1.20 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. AXQ Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $791,000. Advisor Resource Council grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 507.9% in the fourth quarter. Advisor Resource Council now owns 7,021 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,653,000 after purchasing an additional 5,866 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 4,445 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,024,220 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $716,649,000 after purchasing an additional 16,081 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 62.7% in the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 113,851 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,813,000 after buying an additional 43,889 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

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.