Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Down 1.3% - Here's What Happened

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report)'s share price traded down 1.3% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $101.66 and last traded at $102.05. Approximately 2,585,385 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 9,721,389 shares. The stock had previously closed at $103.40.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on ANET shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Arista Networks from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Arista Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $113.79.

Arista Networks Trading Up 3.8 %

The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $112.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $102.13. The company has a market cap of $121.61 billion, a PE ratio of 43.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.09.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.90 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, insider John F. Mccool sold 288 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.70, for a total transaction of $31,305.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $412.65, for a total value of $825,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 42,946 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,721,666.90. This represents a 4.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 260,224 shares of company stock worth $30,242,856 in the last three months. Company insiders own 3.54% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 304.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,084,951 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $10,620,270,000 after acquiring an additional 72,311,318 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 330.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,648,129 shares of the technology company's stock worth $6,371,848,000 after acquiring an additional 44,269,572 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 277.5% in the fourth quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,016,207,000 after acquiring an additional 20,059,303 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 311.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,165,355 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,665,829,000 after acquiring an additional 18,293,874 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in Arista Networks by 218.5% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,070,016 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,328,869,000 after acquiring an additional 14,454,822 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

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.