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

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) gapped down prior to trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock had previously closed at $296.58, but opened at $280.27. Arista Networks shares last traded at $277.59, with a volume of 1,010,161 shares.

Specifically, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 18,621 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.60, for a total value of $4,796,769.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 82,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,320,521.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 18,621 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.60, for a total value of $4,796,769.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 82,766 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,320,521.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Yvonne Wassenaar sold 186 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $261.41, for a total transaction of $48,622.26. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,678 shares in the company, valued at $700,055.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 361,036 shares of company stock valued at $102,813,921 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 18.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ANET shares. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Melius Research raised shares of Arista Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $297.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $225.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.59.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $281.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $241.96. The firm has a market cap of $84.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.09.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The technology company reported $2.08 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. AXQ Capital LP acquired a new stake in Arista Networks during the third quarter worth $791,000. Advisor Resource Council lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 507.9% during the fourth quarter. Advisor Resource Council now owns 7,021 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,653,000 after acquiring an additional 5,866 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $1,047,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the period. Cambridge Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 70.1% during the third quarter. Cambridge Trust Co. now owns 50,255 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,243,000 after acquiring an additional 20,704 shares during the period. Finally, Banque Pictet & Cie SA lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 7.1% during the third quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 5,617 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,033,000 after acquiring an additional 374 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.