Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Breaks Below 200 Day Moving Average - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Arista Networks shares fell below their 200-day moving average, trading as low as $163.25 and last changing hands near $163.95, down 2.9%.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: the stock has an average “Buy” rating and a consensus price target of $232.95, despite one recent downgrade to “Hold.”
• The company reported strong quarterly results, with revenue up 37.7% year over year and EPS of $1.02 beating estimates; however, insiders sold about $739.8 million of stock over the past 90 days.

Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) passed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of $164.87 and traded as low as $163.25. Arista Networks shares last traded at $163.9490, with a volume of 7,077,067 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ANET has been the subject of several recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 30th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $250.00 price target for the company. Bank of America restated a "buy" rating and issued a $240.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Zacks Research lowered Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Arista Networks from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Arista Networks to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. Two equities research 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $232.95.

Arista Networks Trading Down 2.9%

The stock has a market capitalization of $206.78 billion, a PE ratio of 51.72, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.60. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $194.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $164.87.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.13. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.65% and a net margin of 38.37%. The company had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.73 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 37.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 300,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.60, for a total value of $60,780,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 180,843,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at $36,638,801,524.80. This represents a 0.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 767,029 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.22, for a total transaction of $154,341,575.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 16,387,981 shares in the company, valued at $3,297,589,536.82. This represents a 4.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 3,619,449 shares of company stock worth $739,787,226 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Davidson Trust Co. bought a new stake in Arista Networks during the 3rd quarter worth about $3,512,000. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 9,357,496 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,589,651,000 after purchasing an additional 388,354 shares during the last quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 2,827.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 52,381 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $10,664,000 after purchasing an additional 50,592 shares during the last quarter. First National Bank of Mount Dora Trust Investment Services acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $5,279,000. Finally, Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 564.1% during the second quarter. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. now owns 16,847 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,862,000 after buying an additional 14,310 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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