Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Gap Down to $316.50

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $316.50, but opened at $305.36. Arista Networks shares last traded at $297.75, with a volume of 1,278,399 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ANET has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Arista Networks from $311.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, April 12th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $310.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $295.22.

Arista Networks Stock Down 4.8 %

The stock has a market cap of $94.46 billion, a PE ratio of 42.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $286.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $260.16.

Arista Networks declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.20 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to buy up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.52, for a total transaction of $573,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 60,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,462,247.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Arista Networks news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.52, for a total value of $573,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 60,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,462,247.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Marc Taxay sold 11,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.28, for a total transaction of $3,335,162.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 394,836 shares of company stock valued at $115,437,764. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,494,876 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,946,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596,040 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 32.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,318,633 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,897,906,000 after purchasing an additional 2,515,864 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,136,348 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,387,211,000 after buying an additional 55,312 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 0.8% during the first quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,049,416 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $884,270,000 after buying an additional 25,196 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $881,848,000. 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.