Charles H. Giancarlo Sells 8,000 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Stock

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.58, for a total transaction of $708,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 131,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,673,426.72. The trade was a 5.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Arista Networks Trading Down 1.8 %

NYSE ANET traded down $1.58 on Friday, hitting $85.69. 1,575,211 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,087,724. The company has a market capitalization of $107.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $59.43 and a 52-week high of $133.58. The business's 50 day moving average price is $78.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.40.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. Arista Networks's quarterly revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 6th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to buy up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Caitlin John LLC lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 174.7% in the fourth quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 239 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 335.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 248 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. HighMark Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 179.7% in the first quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 358 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 300.0% during the 4th quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 264 shares of the technology company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 300.0% during the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 264 shares of the technology company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ANET. Erste Group Bank cut Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $106.07.

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.