Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Down 2.9% – Here’s What Happened

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s share price dropped 2.9% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $99.82 and last traded at $100.87. Approximately 4,906,262 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 50% from the average daily volume of 9,728,888 shares. The stock had previously closed at $103.92.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ANET has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Arista Networks from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $113.79.

Arista Networks Stock Down 4.9 %

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $113.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $101.70. The company has a market cap of $123.97 billion, a PE ratio of 44.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.09.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. Equities research analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $412.65, for a total transaction of $825,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 42,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,721,666.90. This represents a 4.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John F. Mccool sold 288 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.70, for a total transaction of $31,305.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 260,056 shares of company stock worth $30,225,623. Company insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Arista Networks by 304.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,620,270,000 after purchasing an additional 72,311,318 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 330.9% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 277.5% in the fourth quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,016,207,000 after buying an additional 20,059,303 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 311.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,665,829,000 after buying an additional 18,293,874 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 14,454,822 shares in 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.