Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Down 3% – Should You Sell?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s share price dropped 3% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $72.17 and last traded at $73.71. Approximately 2,854,702 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 9,142,712 shares. The stock had previously closed at $76.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Arista Networks from $108.00 to $76.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $118.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. One equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $108.50.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average of $88.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $100.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.30.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. The business 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%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In related news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.55, for a total transaction of $620,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 139,784 shares in the company, valued at $10,840,249.20. This represents a 5.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Marc Taxay sold 51,848 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total transaction of $4,593,214.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 411,031 shares of company stock worth $39,364,943. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Arista Networks in the third quarter worth approximately $123,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 193.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 689 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 454 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 3.8% in the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,177 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $453,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Arista Networks during the third quarter valued at about $1,752,000. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 35.0% during the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 135 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.