Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Up 6.8% - Here's Why

Key Points

• Arista Networks' shares rose 6.8% on Wednesday, closing at $151.58 after a high of $150.70, despite a 25% decline in trading volume compared to average sessions.
• JPMorgan Chase & Co., KeyCorp, and Needham & Company LLC have recently raised their price targets for Arista Networks' stock, highlighting strong analyst ratings with a consensus target price of $138.79.
• In its latest quarterly report, Arista Networks exceeded earnings expectations, posting $0.73 EPS, and achieved revenue of $2.20 billion, a 30.4% increase year-over-year.

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report)'s share price rose 6.8% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $150.70 and last traded at $151.58. Approximately 7,686,816 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 25% from the average daily volume of 10,275,560 shares. The stock had previously closed at $141.91.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ANET has been the subject of a number of research reports. Melius Research lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Barclays lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $151.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $157.56.

Arista Networks Stock Down 8.9%

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $126.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $100.21. The company has a market capitalization of $175.14 billion, a PE ratio of 54.81, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 1.50.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.11 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 40.90%.Arista Networks's quarterly revenue was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.01, for a total value of $936,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 57,784 shares in the company, valued at $6,761,305.84. The trade was a 12.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 1,247,688 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.53, for a total value of $185,319,098.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 5,383,207 shares of the company's stock, valued at $799,567,735.71. This trade represents a 18.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,582,614 shares of company stock worth $980,712,097 over the last three months. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. American Trust increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 49.6% in the second quarter. American Trust now owns 17,671 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,808,000 after buying an additional 5,862 shares in the last quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 5.3% during the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 12,490 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,278,000 after purchasing an additional 631 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 77.2% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 548,356 shares of the technology company's stock worth $55,909,000 after purchasing an additional 238,837 shares in the last quarter. MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the second quarter worth approximately $4,373,000. Finally, Stance Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the second quarter worth approximately $1,426,000. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.