Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Down 0.3% – Should You Sell?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) shares traded down 0.3% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $82.94 and last traded at $84.13. 1,395,194 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 8,579,426 shares. The stock had previously closed at $84.42.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on ANET shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI upped their target price 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. UBS Group upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, March 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $114.00.

Arista Networks Trading Up 0.3 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $104.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.50, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $102.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.60.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. As a group, analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total transaction of $159,409.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $870,752.64. The trade was a 15.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.85, for a total transaction of $6,788,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,101,013.60. This trade represents a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 491,001 shares of company stock valued at $49,112,111 over the last three months. Company insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. DSG Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,984,000. Objective Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 244.0% during the 4th quarter. Objective Capital Management LLC now owns 3,516 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $389,000 after buying an additional 2,494 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 535.7% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 520,832 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $57,568,000 after buying an additional 438,899 shares in the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 346.5% in the fourth quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 9,538 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,054,000 after buying an additional 7,402 shares during the period. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 415.3% during the fourth quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 11,775 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,301,000 after acquiring an additional 9,490 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.