Arista Networks Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:ANET)

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 26,542 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 55% compared to the typical volume of 17,088 call options.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

ANET opened at $107.85 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $111.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $98.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.87 billion, a PE ratio of 51.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.08. Arista Networks has a 52 week low of $60.08 and a 52 week high of $133.57.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.08. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.52% and a net margin of 40.29%. The business 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 firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Arista Networks will post 1.97 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ANET has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $97.50 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $66.25 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.25 target price (up previously from $86.25) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, November 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Arista Networks from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $105.83.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.47, for a total value of $9,477,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,537,266.72. This represents a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John F. Mccool sold 2,336 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.83, for a total value of $226,200.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 288 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,887.76. This represents a 89.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 343,992 shares of company stock worth $37,634,420. 3.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $217,000. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 300.6% during the 4th quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 24,196 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,674,000 after acquiring an additional 18,156 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its position in Arista Networks by 443.2% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 312,081 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,494,000 after purchasing an additional 254,626 shares in the last quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 328 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Financial Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 331.7% during the 4th quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 3,579 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $396,000 after purchasing an additional 2,750 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

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.