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 traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group increased their target price on Arista Networks from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Arista Networks from $268.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $295.22.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average is $286.42 and its 200-day moving average is $260.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.19, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.13.

Arista Networks declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.20 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Arista Networks news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 14,416 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $326.03, for a total transaction of $4,700,048.48. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 252,382 shares in the company, valued at $82,284,103.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 14,416 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $326.03, for a total value of $4,700,048.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 252,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,284,103.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 25,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.00, for a total value of $7,925,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,615,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $512,208,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 394,836 shares of company stock valued at $115,437,764 over the last 90 days. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 5.7% during the fourth 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 grew its holdings 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 worth $1,897,906,000 after purchasing an additional 2,515,864 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew 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 worth $2,387,211,000 after acquiring an additional 55,312 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,049,416 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $884,270,000 after acquiring an additional 25,196 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the first quarter worth $881,848,000. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.