Traders Purchase Large Volume of Arista Networks Call Options (NYSE:ANET)

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 44,291 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 74% compared to the average daily volume of 25,502 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $171.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $183.00 target price (up previously from $179.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Piper Sandler raised Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $159.00 in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $166.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 24,042 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total value of $2,994,431.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,917 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,235,162.35. This represents a 70.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.43, for a total value of $1,123,440.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 9,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,373,967.12. The trade was a 44.98% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 216,464 shares of company stock worth $27,553,548 over the last 90 days. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ANET. Bare Financial Services Inc boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 2,118.2% in the second quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 244 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 56.7% in the 3rd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 199 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new position in Arista Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of ANET stock traded down $3.13 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $140.32. The company had a trading volume of 4,099,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,229,219. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $132.39 and its 200 day moving average is $136.68. Arista Networks has a 12 month low of $59.43 and a 12 month high of $164.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $176.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.33, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.42.

About Arista Networks

Arista Networks, Inc is a technology company that designs and sells cloud networking solutions for large-scale data centers and enterprise environments. The company is best known for its high-performance switching and routing platforms, which are used to build scalable, low-latency networks for cloud service providers, internet companies, financial services, telecommunications, and enterprise IT. Arista’s offerings emphasize programmability, automation and telemetry to support modern, software-driven network architectures.

Central to Arista’s product portfolio is its Extensible Operating System (EOS), a modular network operating system that provides consistent programmability, stateful control and advanced visibility across the company’s hardware platforms.