Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Down 2.7% Following Insider Selling

Key Points

• Arista Networks shares fell 2.7% to $195.59 after CEO Jayshree Ullal and a director disclosed stock sales, both executed under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plans.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with the stock carrying a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $226.05, despite one firm downgrading it to “Hold.”
• Arista reported strong quarterly results, including $1.02 in EPS versus the $0.89 estimate and $3.04 billion in revenue, up 37.7% year over year; institutional investors own 82.47% of its shares.

Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) fell 2.7% on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $194.61 and last traded at $195.59. Approximately 3,060,879 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 8,451,858 shares. The stock had previously closed at $201.09.

Specifically, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 13,809 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.79, for a total transaction of $2,648,428.11. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 9,917 shares in the company, valued at $1,901,981.43. The trade was a 58.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 422 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.34, for a total value of $79,057.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 10,194 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,909,743.96. The trade was a 3.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In other Arista Networks news, insider Kenneth Duda sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.42, for a total value of $4,820,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 452,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,884,008. This trade represents a 5.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ANET. Weiss Ratings cut Arista Networks from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Wolfe Research reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $175.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $175.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $226.05.

Arista Networks Stock Down 2.7%

The company has a market cap of $246.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.70, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.60. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $179.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $158.14.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ANET. Lighthouse Financial Services Inc. ADV acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $1,549,000. Bensler LLC acquired a new stake in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth $6,350,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 169,613 shares of the technology company's stock worth $22,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,217 shares during the period. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $3,058,000. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Arista Networks by 59.8% in the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 17,621 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,309,000 after purchasing an additional 6,591 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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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