Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Down 4% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) dropped 4% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $81.45 and last traded at $82.58. Approximately 5,602,822 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 48% from the average daily volume of 10,675,872 shares. The stock had previously closed at $86.01.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ANET. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $106.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $108.00 target price (up from $106.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $113.79.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $111.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $102.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $107.53 billion, a PE ratio of 38.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.09.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its 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 business had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.29, for a total transaction of $8,663,200.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,405,171.04. The trade was a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John F. Mccool sold 288 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.70, for a total value of $31,305.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 431,441 shares of company stock valued at $45,713,162 in the last 90 days. 3.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ANET. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth approximately $242,000. GHE LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 319.0% during the 4th quarter. GHE LLC now owns 28,368 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,136,000 after purchasing an additional 21,597 shares during the period. Colonial River Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 327.6% during the 4th quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC now owns 9,745 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,077,000 after purchasing an additional 7,466 shares during the last quarter. Unified Investment Management purchased a new stake in Arista Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $630,000. Finally, Silver Oak Securities Incorporated lifted its position in Arista Networks by 395.8% in the fourth quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 18,593 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,072,000 after buying an additional 14,843 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is 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.