Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley has raised its price target for Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) from $135.00 to $140.00, maintaining an "overweight" rating on the stock.
• Other brokerage firms have mixed views, with Wolfe Research upgrading their target to $185.00, while BNP Paribas Exane reduced theirs to $106.00.
• Arista Networks reported strong earnings, beating estimates with $0.73 EPS for the quarter and generating $2.20 billion in revenue, up 30.4% year-over-year.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) had its price objective increased by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $140.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the technology company's stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective points to a potential downside of 1.59% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on ANET. BNP Paribas Exane cut Arista Networks from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $106.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Arista Networks from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on Arista Networks from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Wedbush assumed coverage on Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Arista Networks presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $154.40.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

NYSE:ANET traded down $10.77 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $142.27. 7,242,981 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,353,515. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $126.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.86. Arista Networks has a fifty-two week low of $59.43 and a fifty-two week high of $156.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $178.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 1.50.

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

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 30,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.51, for a total value of $4,095,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,771,353.76. The trade was a 69.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 56,548 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.56, for a total value of $8,118,030.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 5,555,373 shares in the company, valued at approximately $797,529,347.88. The trade was a 1.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 6,334,926 shares of company stock worth $795,392,998 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bare Financial Services Inc boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 2,118.2% during the second quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 244 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 179.7% during the first quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 358 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Cloud Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, REAP Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 108.0% during the second quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 337 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. 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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