Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Down 1.7% - Here's Why

Key Points

• Shares fell 1.7% to about $133.02 on Tuesday with trading volume of 5.92 million shares, roughly 28% below the average session volume.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy (18 Buys, 5 Holds) and an average price target of $176.47, with several firms issuing targets as high as $200.
• Arista beat the quarter—EPS $0.82 vs. $0.75 expected and revenue $2.49B (+28.9% YoY)—but insiders have been selling recently, totaling about 196,237 shares worth $25.9M over the last 90 days.

Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) fell 1.7% on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $132.31 and last traded at $133.0170. 5,924,056 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 28% from the average session volume of 8,240,908 shares. The stock had previously closed at $135.35.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ANET has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group set a $200.00 target price on Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, February 13th. KeyCorp reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $178.00 price objective (up from $170.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $184.00 target price (up from $183.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, December 29th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $176.47.

Arista Networks Stock Down 1.7%

The stock has a market capitalization of $167.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.19, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.46. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $134.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $137.34.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The technology company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.07. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.99% and a return on equity of 30.37%. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. The business's revenue was up 28.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.44, for a total transaction of $4,558,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,848,301.44. This trade represents a 71.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.43, for a total value of $1,123,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 9,784 shares in the company, valued at $1,373,967.12. The trade was a 44.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 196,237 shares of company stock worth $25,865,760. 3.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ANET. Bare Financial Services Inc raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 2,118.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 244 shares of the technology company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 233 shares during the period. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Sankala Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Prosperity Bancshares Inc purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 56.7% in the third quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 199 shares of the technology company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arista Networks Company Profile

Arista Networks, Inc is a technology company that designs and sells cloud networking solutions for large-scale data centers and enterprise environments. The company is best known for its high-performance switching and routing platforms, which are used to build scalable, low-latency networks for cloud service providers, internet companies, financial services, telecommunications, and enterprise IT. Arista's offerings emphasize programmability, automation and telemetry to support modern, software-driven network architectures.

Central to Arista's product portfolio is its Extensible Operating System (EOS), a modular network operating system that provides consistent programmability, stateful control and advanced visibility across the company's hardware platforms.

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