Insider Selling: Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Major Shareholder Sells $45,860,431.48 in Stock

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 267,892 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.19, for a total transaction of $45,860,431.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 180,275,156 shares in the company, valued at $30,861,303,955.64. This represents a 0.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Major shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Andreas Bechtolsheim also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, September 17th, Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 300,000 shares of Arista Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.95, for a total value of $59,685,000.00.
• On Thursday, August 27th, Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 300,000 shares of Arista Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.60, for a total value of $60,780,000.00.
• On Thursday, August 6th, Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 111,848 shares of Arista Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.75, for a total transaction of $21,558,702.00.
• On Wednesday, August 5th, Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 300,000 shares of Arista Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.30, for a total value of $60,990,000.00.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of ANET stock traded up $5.44 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $169.58. The company had a trading volume of 12,530,849 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,207,998. The company has a market capitalization of $213.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.61. Arista Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.52 and a twelve month high of $217.41. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $194.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $165.10.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 3rd. The technology company reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.12. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.37% and a return on equity of 30.65%. The firm had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 58.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Arista Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Third-quarter earnings were $1.20 per share versus the $1.08 consensus, while revenue of $3.66 billion exceeded the $3.33 billion estimate and rose 58.5% year over year. The company said revenue growth was its strongest since its IPO, and operating margin widened. Article: Arista Networks Q3 Earnings and Revenues Beat Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management’s fourth-quarter outlook was characterized as strong, supporting expectations for continued demand for Arista’s networking products amid AI and data-center expansion. Article: Arista Networks Stock Pops on Q3 Earnings Beat, Strong Q4 Guidance
• Negative Sentiment: Gross margin slipped as product sales made up a larger share of revenue, and coverage flagged a slower pace of growth in the fourth-quarter outlook. These trends could raise questions about the durability of margin gains and rapid growth. Article: Arista Revenue Up 58% as Q4 Outlook Slows

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ANET has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, August 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $220.00 target price on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $289.00 price target (up from $195.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $250.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Arista Networks from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $232.95.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. Main Street Group LTD acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. William Mack & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Arista Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. ABS Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Arista Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC acquired a new position in Arista Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, NBT Bank N A NY boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 37.2% during the 1st quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 247 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Arista Networks

Arista Networks, Inc develops and sells cloud networking solutions for data centers, cloud service providers, enterprises and specialized computing environments. The company’s products are designed to support high-performance, scalable and automated networks used for cloud computing, artificial intelligence, data analytics and other demanding applications.

Arista’s portfolio includes data center and campus switches, routing platforms, wireless networking products, network operating software and network management tools.