Insider Selling: Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) CEO Sells 288,820 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Jayshree Ullal, CEO of Arista Networks, sold 288,820 shares at an average price of $122.19, impacting their ownership by a 4.54% decrease to approximately 6.06 million shares.
• The company's stock recently traded down to $117.56, significantly below its 52-week high of $133.57, reflecting a broader market sentiment shift.
• Arista Networks has initiated a $1.50 billion share repurchase plan, suggesting confidence in its financial health and that its shares are undervalued according to its Board of Directors.

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 288,820 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.19, for a total transaction of $35,290,915.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 6,065,859 shares in the company, valued at approximately $741,187,311.21. This represents a 4.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Jayshree Ullal also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, July 29th, Jayshree Ullal sold 588,000 shares of Arista Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.15, for a total transaction of $70,060,200.00.
• On Monday, July 28th, Jayshree Ullal sold 527,302 shares of Arista Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.59, for a total transaction of $60,950,838.18.
• On Friday, July 25th, Jayshree Ullal sold 60,698 shares of Arista Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.02, for a total value of $6,981,483.96.
• On Monday, June 30th, Jayshree Ullal sold 748,444 shares of Arista Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.43, for a total value of $76,663,118.92.
• On Monday, June 30th, Jayshree Ullal sold 93,468 shares of Arista Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.43, for a total value of $9,573,927.24.
• On Friday, June 27th, Jayshree Ullal sold 1,793 shares of Arista Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.99, for a total transaction of $182,868.07.
• On Friday, June 27th, Jayshree Ullal sold 223 shares of Arista Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.99, for a total transaction of $22,743.77.
• On Thursday, June 26th, Jayshree Ullal sold 104,707 shares of Arista Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.03, for a total transaction of $10,683,255.21.
• On Thursday, June 26th, Jayshree Ullal sold 13,075 shares of Arista Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.03, for a total transaction of $1,334,042.25.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ANET traded up $1.94 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $119.51. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,717,568 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,526,288. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $101.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $94.81. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $59.43 and a 1 year high of $133.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.37.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, May 6th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ANET. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 6,038 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $618,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,338 shares of the technology company's stock worth $444,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc. boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 4,508 shares of the technology company's stock worth $461,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 16,185 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,656,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hemington Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 28.2% in the 2nd quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 459 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on ANET. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded shares of Arista Networks from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $106.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Wedbush initiated coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $114.00.

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.