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

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.18, for a total transaction of $705,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 123,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,915,273.12. This represents a 6.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Arista Networks stock traded up $2.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $97.29. 6,591,433 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,049,091. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $59.43 and a 12 month high of $133.58. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $96.55. The company has a market capitalization of $122.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.82, 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 results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. Arista Networks's quarterly revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on ANET. Citigroup raised their target price on Arista Networks from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $89.00 price objective (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $112.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $107.47.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 1.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 97,856,933 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $7,581,955,000 after acquiring an additional 1,771,982 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 330.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $6,371,848,000 after purchasing an additional 44,269,572 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 277.5% in the fourth quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,016,207,000 after buying an additional 20,059,303 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 311.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,665,829,000 after buying an additional 18,293,874 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 22,959,214 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,778,880,000 after buying an additional 1,889,198 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.