Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Down 2% on Insider Selling

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) dropped 2% on Monday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $126.14 and last traded at $128.0540. Approximately 4,684,635 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 53% from the average daily volume of 9,992,136 shares. The stock had previously closed at $130.68.

Specifically, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 24,042 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total value of $2,994,431.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 9,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,235,162.35. This represents a 70.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 422 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.15, for a total transaction of $49,437.30. Following the transaction, the director owned 8,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,052,007. This represents a 4.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on ANET. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $172.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, September 25th. UBS Group upped their price target on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their price objective on Arista Networks from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $164.31.

Arista Networks Trading Down 0.7%

The company has a market cap of $160.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.41. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $141.38 and its 200-day moving average is $124.88.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The technology company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 39.73% and a return on equity of 30.28%. The business’s revenue was up 27.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 0.4% during the third quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 18,509 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,697,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 56.7% during the 3rd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 199 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,175 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $463,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc now owns 4,237 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $616,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 0.9% in the third quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 8,364 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,219,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.