Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Down 6% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) dropped 6% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $382.31 and last traded at $388.50. Approximately 1,373,683 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 39% from the average daily volume of 2,236,208 shares. The stock had previously closed at $413.47.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ANET has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $320.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Arista Networks from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays boosted their price target on Arista Networks from $320.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Arista Networks from $325.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $369.50.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $127.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.36, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $364.47 and a 200 day moving average of $330.06.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.66 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.50% and a net margin of 39.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.41 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 7.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 20,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.69, for a total transaction of $7,893,800.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,280,374.36. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 17,752 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.29, for a total transaction of $6,289,356.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 17,681 shares in the company, valued at $6,264,201.49. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.69, for a total transaction of $7,893,800.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,280,374.36. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 58,197 shares of company stock worth $21,326,894 over the last three months. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 500.0% in the second quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 78 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. LGT Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Arista Networks during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Arista Networks by 872.7% during the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 107 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Byrne Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

About Arista Networks

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.