Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price Up 1.5% - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• Arista Networks shares rose 1.5% on Friday, trading near $187.46, with volume below average. The stock has been supported by a strong run above both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages.
• Recent analyst activity has been mostly constructive, with multiple firms reiterating or raising targets and the consensus rating sitting at “Buy”. The average price target is about $187.63, roughly in line with the current share price.
• The company delivered solid quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates with 35.1% year-over-year revenue growth. However, insiders have been selling shares recently, including CEO Jayshree Ullal and major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim.

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded up 1.5% on Friday . The company traded as high as $187.62 and last traded at $187.4630. 5,512,702 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 37% from the average daily volume of 8,773,913 shares. The stock had previously closed at $184.69.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ANET has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Arista Networks to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $176.00 to $173.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $187.63.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The company's 50-day moving average is $159.41 and its 200-day moving average is $145.45. The firm has a market cap of $236.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.60.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The technology company reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.62 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.32% and a return on equity of 30.10%. Arista Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 35.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.65 earnings per share. Arista Networks has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.880 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 428,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.44, for a total value of $75,944,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,209,207 shares in the company, valued at $924,321,690.08. This trade represents a 7.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 260,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.57, for a total value of $43,048,200.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 182,543,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,223,652,457.36. This represents a 0.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 3,147,080 shares of company stock worth $513,396,642. 2.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Tema ETFs LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 10.1% during the 2nd quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 22,091 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,753,000 after acquiring an additional 2,030 shares during the last quarter. Canvas Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 5.5% during the second quarter. Canvas Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,281 shares of the technology company's stock worth $387,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 26.8% during the second quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 9,998 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,698,000 after purchasing an additional 2,115 shares in the last quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB now owns 38,207 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $6,491,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the period. Finally, Orrstown Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $693,000. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Company Profile

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.

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