Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Down 1.4% on Insider Selling

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s share price traded down 1.4% on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $271.87 and last traded at $274.86. 819,223 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 2,431,459 shares. The stock had previously closed at $278.82.

Specifically, Director Yvonne Wassenaar sold 224 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.29, for a total value of $57,184.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $721,704.83. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Arista Networks news, Director Yvonne Wassenaar sold 224 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.29, for a total value of $57,184.96. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $721,704.83. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 87,418 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.81, for a total transaction of $24,373,012.58. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 17,681 shares in the company, valued at $4,929,639.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 337,054 shares of company stock valued at $96,529,086. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ANET shares. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $240.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.53.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $279.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $251.25. The firm has a market cap of $85.65 billion, a PE ratio of 41.70, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.13.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The technology company reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.38. Arista Networks had a net margin of 35.62% and a return on equity of 31.44%. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.25 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 6.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.20 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in Arista Networks by 32.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,318,633 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,897,906,000 after acquiring an additional 2,515,864 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $586,051,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Arista Networks by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,494,876 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,946,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596,040 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in Arista Networks by 439.3% during the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,259,305 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $231,624,000 after buying an additional 1,025,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 25,188.0% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 613,739 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,445,420,000 after buying an additional 611,312 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently 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.