Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Down 1.9% – What’s Next?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s share price was down 1.9% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $112.65 and last traded at $113.33. Approximately 1,440,074 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 5,530,716 shares. The stock had previously closed at $115.51.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ANET has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Arista Networks from $97.50 to $107.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $66.25 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $92.25 to $106.25 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $96.25 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.42.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $106.48 and a 200 day moving average of $96.00. The company has a market cap of $144.19 billion, a PE ratio of 55.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.08.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.76 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.29% and a return on equity of 30.52%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arista Networks news, SVP Marc Taxay sold 2,496 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.83, for a total value of $241,693.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.09, for a total transaction of $8,407,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,363,647.84. The trade was a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 345,316 shares of company stock valued at $37,761,976 over the last three months. 3.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ANET. Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Arista Networks in the second quarter worth about $35,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Arista Networks in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,000. HM Payson & Co. lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 28.2% in the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 132 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 2,133.3% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 134 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 186.0% during the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 143 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

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.