Arista Networks Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:ANET)

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Investors purchased 41,980 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 14% compared to the typical daily volume of 36,766 put options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.61, for a total transaction of $9,248,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,500,155.36. The trade was a 86.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.55, for a total transaction of $620,400.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 139,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,840,249.20. The trade was a 5.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 411,031 shares of company stock valued at $39,364,943. Insiders own 3.54% of the company's stock.

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Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ANET. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 37.7% in the first quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 9,340 shares of the technology company's stock worth $724,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559 shares during the last quarter. KFG Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $476,000. First Affirmative Financial Network boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 16.1% during the 1st quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 3,835 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $297,000 after acquiring an additional 531 shares during the period. Intellectus Partners LLC grew its position in Arista Networks by 12.6% in the 1st quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 8,226 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $637,000 after acquiring an additional 918 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Breakwater Capital Group purchased a new stake in Arista Networks in the first quarter worth $370,000. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Arista Networks from $118.00 to $73.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Arista Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. One equities research 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $108.50.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of Arista Networks stock traded down $0.15 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $72.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 11,224,936 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,205,073. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $88.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $100.12. The stock has a market cap of $91.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.66, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.30. Arista Networks has a one year low of $59.43 and a one year high of $133.58.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.93 billion for 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Arista Networks will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.