Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Up 1.6% - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Analysts remain bullish: Arista Networks has a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $226.05, with several firms recently raising their targets as high as $289.
• Strong operating performance: The company beat quarterly estimates with $1.02 EPS and $3.04 billion in revenue, up 37.7% year over year, while guiding for third-quarter EPS of $1.06–$1.08.
• Valuation and insider selling warrant caution: Shares trade at a P/E ratio of 63.74, while insiders sold about 4.34 million shares worth $798.6 million over the last quarter, including substantial sales by the CEO and major shareholder.

Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) were up 1.6% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $202.27 and last traded at $202.05. Approximately 5,585,497 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 35% from the average session volume of 8,605,053 shares. The stock had previously closed at $198.82.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ANET has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $210.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $220.00 price target (up from $190.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $289.00 price target (up from $195.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $250.00 price objective on Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $226.05.

Arista Networks Stock Up 1.6%

The company's 50-day moving average is $174.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $154.79. The company has a market capitalization of $254.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.74, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.60.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.13. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.37% and a return on equity of 30.65%. The business had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. Arista Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 37.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.060-1.080 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 111,848 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.75, for a total value of $21,558,702.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 109,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,170,310.75. This represents a 50.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 573,509 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.13, for a total value of $119,364,428.17. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,203,250. The trade was a 95.82% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 4,335,168 shares of company stock valued at $798,637,629. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Cura Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 3.1% in the second quarter. Cura Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,748 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $297,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc now owns 2,179 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $370,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Intrua Financial LLC raised its stake in Arista Networks by 2.7% in the first quarter. Intrua Financial LLC now owns 2,307 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $283,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in Arista Networks by 1.2% during the second quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 5,403 shares of the technology company's stock worth $918,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, NBT Bank N A NY lifted its position in Arista Networks by 37.2% during the first quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 247 shares of the technology company's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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