Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Down 2.5% After Insider Selling

Key Points

• Shares down 2.5% after significant insider selling: CEO Jayshree Ullal sold a total of about 828,000 shares across April 20–22 (roughly $143 million) under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan.
• Analysts remain bullish with a consensus Buy rating and an average price target near $177.83, while Arista reported a strong quarter (EPS and revenue beat; revenue +28.9% YoY) but still trades at a high valuation (P/E ~62.5).
• Institutional ownership is high (about 82.47%), with several hedge funds and asset managers recently increasing positions in the stock.

Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) were down 2.5% during trading on Monday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $168.51 and last traded at $172.4970. Approximately 6,736,434 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 14% from the average daily volume of 7,795,055 shares. The stock had previously closed at $176.91.

Specifically, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 428,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.44, for a total transaction of $75,944,320.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 5,209,207 shares in the company, valued at $924,321,690.08. This trade represents a 7.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 93,861 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.57, for a total value of $15,822,148.77. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 5,273,207 shares in the company, valued at $888,904,503.99. This represents a 1.75% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 306,139 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.31, for a total transaction of $51,220,116.09. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 5,287,287 shares in the company, valued at $884,615,987.97. This trade represents a 5.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ANET shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Arista Networks from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $184.00 price target (up from $183.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, February 13th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $178.00 price objective (up from $170.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Truist Financial began coverage on Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a "buy" rating and a $161.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $177.83.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $139.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $137.12. The company has a market capitalization of $217.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.50, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.48.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The technology company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.07. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.37% and a net margin of 38.99%.The company had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.38 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 28.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Global Trust Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 33.0% during the third quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 19,273 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,808,000 after purchasing an additional 4,780 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Arista Networks during the third quarter worth $8,263,000. National Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Arista Networks during the third quarter worth $1,296,000. Three Seasons Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Arista Networks during the third quarter worth $2,483,000. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 38.3% during the third quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 662,139 shares of the technology company's stock worth $96,480,000 after purchasing an additional 183,515 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Arista Networks

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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