Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Down 1.5% on Insider Selling

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) shares dropped 1.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $106.99 and last traded at $109.89. Approximately 2,900,370 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 9,135,982 shares. The stock had previously closed at $111.61.

Specifically, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.19, for a total value of $2,890,940.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 582,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,757,056. This represents a 4.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.19, for a total transaction of $3,335,700.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,442,801.44. The trade was a 69.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on ANET. Wedbush began coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Citigroup increased their target price on Arista Networks from $112.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Arista Networks from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.40.

Arista Networks Trading Down 1.4%

The stock has a market cap of $138.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $97.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.78.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 40.72%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the second quarter valued at $226,000. Petros Family Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 64.6% in the second quarter. Petros Family Wealth LLC now owns 7,339 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $751,000 after purchasing an additional 2,879 shares in the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 6.1% in the second quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 37,332 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,819,000 after purchasing an additional 2,137 shares in the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 13.5% in the second quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 34,286 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,508,000 after purchasing an additional 4,090 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Three Bridge Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the second quarter valued at $224,000. 82.47% of the stock is 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.