Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price Down 0.3% - Should You Sell?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) fell 0.3% during trading on Thursday . The stock 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $114.00.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $104.99 billion, a PE ratio of 37.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08. The company's fifty day moving average is $102.53 and its 200-day moving average is $101.74.

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Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 138,351 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.88, for a total transaction of $12,988,391.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,697,137.08. This represents a 59.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.47, for a total value of $9,477,600.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,537,266.72. 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 worth $49,112,111 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.54% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in Arista Networks during the 4th quarter worth $242,000. GHE LLC grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 319.0% during the 4th quarter. GHE LLC now owns 28,368 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,136,000 after buying an additional 21,597 shares in the last quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 327.6% during the fourth quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC now owns 9,745 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,077,000 after buying an additional 7,466 shares during the period. Unified Investment Management bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $630,000. Finally, Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 257.6% in the fourth quarter. Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. now owns 76,950 shares of the technology company's stock worth $8,505,000 after acquiring an additional 55,430 shares during the period. 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.