Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Down 8% on Insider Selling

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report)'s share price dropped 8% during trading on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $101.62 and last traded at $102.18. Approximately 10,186,871 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 8% from the average daily volume of 9,423,939 shares. The stock had previously closed at $111.06.

Specifically, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 1,488 shares of the company's 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $870,752.64. This represents a 15.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on ANET. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com lowered Arista Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "sell" rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $125.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $108.00 target price (up from $106.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $113.79.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The company's fifty day simple moving average is $113.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $101.57. The company has a market capitalization of $123.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.09.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.18 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its position 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 valued at $251,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 5.6% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,917 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,271,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $203,000. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 14,868 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,706,000 after purchasing an additional 1,867 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Arista Networks by 39,841.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 875,110 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,358,850,000 after purchasing an additional 872,919 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.