Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price Up 2.5% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Arista Networks' stock rose 2.5% to $149.32 amid a decline in trading volume, with approximately 7.76 million shares changing hands compared to the average of 10.27 million.
• Recent analyst upgrades have boosted Arista's target prices significantly, with targets ranging from $140 to $185, reflecting a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $162.
• Insider activity shows significant selling, with executives selling over 6.67 million shares valued at approximately $892 million in the last 90 days, indicating a notable decrease in insider ownership percentage to 3.54%.

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) shares rose 2.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $149.95 and last traded at $149.32. Approximately 7,758,899 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 24% from the average daily volume of 10,270,739 shares. The stock had previously closed at $145.71.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ANET has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Arista Networks from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Melius Research lifted their price objective on Arista Networks from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $162.00.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $187.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.50. The company's fifty day moving average price is $135.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $105.22.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Kenneth Duda sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.79, for a total transaction of $4,253,700.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,839,867.04. This trade represents a 69.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 58,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.42, for a total value of $8,608,360.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 6,670,904 shares of company stock worth $892,841,241. Corporate insiders own 3.54% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $933,626,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,228,177,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 153.8% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,719,809 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $584,119,000 after purchasing an additional 4,678,372 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 193.3% in the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,065,054 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $721,342,000 after purchasing an additional 4,656,021 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 37.3% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,552,484 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $740,126,000 after purchasing an additional 2,594,184 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

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.

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