Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price Down 2.9% – Should You Sell?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s stock 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 mid-day trading, a decline of 50% from the average daily volume of 9,728,888 shares. The stock had previously closed at $103.92.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ANET has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $125.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $108.00 price objective (up from $106.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $106.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $113.79.

Arista Networks Trading Down 2.5 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $127.65 billion, a PE ratio of 45.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $114.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $101.55.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.93 billion during 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 31.22%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.29, for a total value of $8,663,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,405,171.04. This trade represents a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 8,128 shares in the company, valued at $870,752.64. This represents a 15.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 259,944 shares of company stock valued at $30,214,186. 3.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 1,087 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $417,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 3,548 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,362,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 540 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $207,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 653 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $251,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Vicus Capital purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the third quarter valued at about $211,000. 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.