Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Up 2.7% - What's Next?

Key Points

• Arista Networks shares rose 2.7% to $191.13, although trading volume was about 52% below the average session volume.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $225.76; several firms recently raised targets as high as $259.
• Arista exceeded quarterly expectations with $1.02 EPS and $3.04 billion in revenue, while revenue increased 37.7% year over year. However, insiders sold more than $761 million of stock over the past 90 days, largely through pre-arranged plans.

Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) rose 2.7% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $192.00 and last traded at $191.13. Approximately 3,996,719 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 52% from the average session volume of 8,357,014 shares. The stock had previously closed at $186.10.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ANET shares. Bank of America reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $240.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Thursday, August 6th. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $259.00 price target (up from $187.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Arista Networks from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $225.76.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $241.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.29, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.62. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $181.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $159.57.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.13. The business 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%.Arista Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 37.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.73 EPS. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.060-1.080 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 13,809 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.79, for a total value of $2,648,428.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 9,917 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,901,981.43. This trade represents a 58.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Kenneth Duda sold 26,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.42, for a total transaction of $4,820,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 452,400 shares in the company, valued at $83,884,008. The trade was a 5.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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. Insiders have sold 4,002,082 shares of company stock valued at $761,352,976 over the last ninety days. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

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

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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