Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Major Shareholder Sells $45,860,431.48 in Stock

Key Points

• Major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 267,892 Arista Networks shares for about $45.9 million at an average price of $171.19 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The sale reduced his position by 0.15%; he still directly owns about 180.3 million shares.
• Arista reported quarterly earnings of $1.20 per share and revenue of $3.66 billion, beating analyst estimates; revenue rose 58.5% year over year. The article also notes concerns over gross margins and a potentially slower growth pace in the fourth-quarter outlook.
• Analysts’ consensus rating was Buy, with an average price target of $232.95.

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 267,892 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.19, for a total value of $45,860,431.48. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 180,275,156 shares in the company, valued at $30,861,303,955.64. This represents a 0.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company's shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Andreas Bechtolsheim also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, September 17th, Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 300,000 shares of Arista Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.95, for a total transaction of $59,685,000.00.
• On Thursday, August 27th, Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 300,000 shares of Arista Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.60, for a total transaction of $60,780,000.00.
• On Thursday, August 6th, Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 111,848 shares of Arista Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.75, for a total transaction of $21,558,702.00.
• On Wednesday, August 5th, Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 300,000 shares of Arista Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.30, for a total transaction of $60,990,000.00.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Arista Networks stock traded up $5.44 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $169.58. The company had a trading volume of 12,530,849 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,207,998. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $194.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $165.10. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.52 and a 1 year high of $217.41. The company has a market capitalization of $213.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.61.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The technology company reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.12. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.65% and a net margin of 38.37%. The business had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 58.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in Arista Networks by 159.4% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 121,303,125 shares of the technology company's stock worth $20,606,975,000 after acquiring an additional 74,541,134 shares during the period. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $1,101,860,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 199.0% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,630,196 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,635,978,000 after purchasing an additional 6,409,612 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the second quarter worth $537,736,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 34.6% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,725,196 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,712,788,000 after purchasing an additional 2,497,275 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Arista Networks

Here are the key news stories impacting Arista Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Third-quarter earnings were $1.20 per share versus the $1.08 consensus, while revenue of $3.66 billion exceeded the $3.33 billion estimate and rose 58.5% year over year. The company said revenue growth was its strongest since its IPO, and operating margin widened. Article: Arista Networks Q3 Earnings and Revenues Beat Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management’s fourth-quarter outlook was characterized as strong, supporting expectations for continued demand for Arista’s networking products amid AI and data-center expansion. Article: Arista Networks Stock Pops on Q3 Earnings Beat, Strong Q4 Guidance
• Negative Sentiment: Gross margin slipped as product sales made up a larger share of revenue, and coverage flagged a slower pace of growth in the fourth-quarter outlook. These trends could raise questions about the durability of margin gains and rapid growth. Article: Arista Revenue Up 58% as Q4 Outlook Slows

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ANET shares. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Arista Networks to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $259.00 price target (up from $187.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday. Zacks Research cut shares of Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $232.95.

About Arista Networks

Arista Networks, Inc develops and sells cloud networking solutions for data centers, cloud service providers, enterprises and specialized computing environments. The company's products are designed to support high-performance, scalable and automated networks used for cloud computing, artificial intelligence, data analytics and other demanding applications.

Arista's portfolio includes data center and campus switches, routing platforms, wireless networking products, network operating software and network management tools.

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