Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Up 4.2% - What's Next?

Key Points

• Arista Networks shares rose 4.2% on Monday, trading as high as $165.66 after closing at $157.60 the prior session. Volume was slightly below average, with about 8.31 million shares changing hands.
• Recent analyst action has been mixed but generally constructive: Zacks cut Arista to hold, while Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Wolfe Research, and Needham either reiterated or raised targets. The stock still carries a Buy consensus with an average price target of $187.63.
• The company posted strong recent results, beating Q1 earnings and revenue estimates with 35.1% year-over-year revenue growth. However, insider selling has been notable, including large sales by Kenneth Duda and Charles H. Giancarlo in recent weeks.

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 4.2% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $165.66 and last traded at $164.2170. Approximately 8,310,524 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 5% from the average session volume of 8,741,082 shares. The stock had previously closed at $157.60.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ANET shares. Zacks Research downgraded Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $190.00 price target (up from $180.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, June 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Wolfe Research restated an "outperform" rating and set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $185.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Two equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $187.63.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $206.78 billion, a PE ratio of 56.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.61. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $159.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $142.81.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, insider Kenneth Duda sold 17,333 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total value of $2,971,222.86. Following the sale, the insider owned 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,224,345.92. The trade was a 57.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.09, for a total transaction of $1,352,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 200,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,874,306.97. The trade was a 3.84% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 2,647,080 shares of company stock valued at $431,329,762 in the last three months. 2.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 321.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,806 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $863,000 after buying an additional 5,955 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Arista Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $202,000. Bison Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Arista Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $251,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Arista Networks by 48.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 10,723 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 3,496 shares during the period. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its stake in Arista Networks by 31.3% in the 2nd quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 4,193 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $429,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

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.

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