Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Down 1.9% – Should You Sell?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) traded down 1.9% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $112.65 and last traded at $113.33. 1,440,074 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 5,530,716 shares. The stock had previously closed at $115.51.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Arista Networks from $97.50 to $107.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Arista Networks from $92.25 to $106.25 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $97.50 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $102.42.

Arista Networks Stock Down 0.5 %

The company has a market capitalization of $144.73 billion, a PE ratio of 55.24, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $106.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $95.69.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.08. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.29% and a return on equity of 30.52%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.76 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.41 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.47, for a total value of $9,477,600.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,537,266.72. This trade represents a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.30, for a total transaction of $786,360.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 179,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,671,868.28. This trade represents a 4.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 345,316 shares of company stock valued at $37,761,976 in the last ninety days. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. now owns 63,244 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $24,274,000 after acquiring an additional 2,219 shares during the last quarter. Deepwater Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Arista Networks during the second quarter worth about $15,084,000. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 69.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 9,028 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,465,000 after purchasing an additional 3,711 shares during the last quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,318,000. Finally, Greenleaf Trust increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 20.1% during the 3rd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 13,224 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,076,000 after buying an additional 2,216 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arista Networks Company Profile

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.