Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Gap Down - Should You Sell?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $95.67, but opened at $92.77. Arista Networks shares last traded at $94.54, with a volume of 1,441,372 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on ANET shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group raised shares of Arista Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $89.00 price objective (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $107.14.

Arista Networks Stock Down 0.4%

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $80.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $97.18. The company has a market cap of $119.66 billion, a PE ratio of 42.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2 billion for 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 revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to buy up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.07, for a total value of $7,205,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,168,748.32. This trade represents a 86.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John F. Mccool sold 17,433 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.57, for a total transaction of $1,683,504.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 410,755 shares of company stock worth $37,045,233 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 304.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company's stock worth $10,620,270,000 after acquiring an additional 72,311,318 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Arista Networks by 330.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $6,371,848,000 after buying an additional 44,269,572 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 277.5% during the 4th quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,016,207,000 after acquiring an additional 20,059,303 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 311.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,665,829,000 after acquiring an additional 18,293,874 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 218.5% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,328,869,000 after acquiring an additional 14,454,822 shares in the last quarter. 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.

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