Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price Down 3.5% on Insider Selling

Key Points

• Arista Networks shares fell 3.5% to $188.89 after insider selling, with major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim selling 300,000 shares for $60.8 million and CEO Jayshree Ullal selling 13,809 shares. Both transactions were conducted under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plans.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive, with an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.76; recent targets range as high as $289.
• Arista reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, including $1.02 in EPS versus $0.89 expected and $3.04 billion in revenue, up 37.7% year over year. Institutional investors own approximately 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report)'s stock price fell 3.5% during trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $188.56 and last traded at $188.89. 4,272,472 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 49% from the average session volume of 8,406,395 shares. The stock had previously closed at $195.69.

Specifically, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 300,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.60, for a total value of $60,780,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 180,843,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $36,638,801,524.80. This represents a 0.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 13,809 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.79, for a total transaction of $2,648,428.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,917 shares in the company, valued at $1,901,981.43. The trade was a 58.20% 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ANET. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $289.00 price objective (up from $195.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $240.00 target price (up from $181.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised Arista Networks from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $225.76.

Arista Networks Trading Down 3.5%

The stock's 50 day moving average price is $180.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $158.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $238.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.59, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.60.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 37.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.060-1.080 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC boosted its position in Arista Networks by 61.9% during the second quarter. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC now owns 183 shares of the technology company's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 0.5% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 233,278 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $39,629,000 after buying an additional 1,131 shares in the last quarter. Formuepleje A S purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the second quarter valued at $1,466,000. Tucker Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 2,971 shares of the technology company's stock worth $505,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 647,735 shares of the technology company's stock worth $110,037,000 after buying an additional 10,393 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is 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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