Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Down 7.5% – Time to Sell?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) dropped 7.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $76.09 and last traded at $77.10. Approximately 5,139,480 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 41% from the average daily volume of 8,694,235 shares. The stock had previously closed at $83.36.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $108.00 price objective (up from $106.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Arista Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $114.00.

Arista Networks Trading Down 7.0 %

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $108.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $102.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.77 billion, a PE ratio of 34.92, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,537,266.72. This represents a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.88, for a total transaction of $12,988,391.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 92,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,697,137.08. This trade represents a 59.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 411,001 shares of company stock valued at $42,324,111. Corporate insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 304.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,620,270,000 after acquiring an additional 72,311,318 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Arista Networks by 330.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,371,848,000 after buying an additional 44,269,572 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 277.5% in the 4th quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,016,207,000 after acquiring an additional 20,059,303 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Arista Networks by 311.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,665,829,000 after acquiring an additional 18,293,874 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 218.5% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,328,869,000 after purchasing an additional 14,454,822 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.