Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price Up 1% - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• Arista Networks shares rose 1% to about $205.60, while trading volume was 56% below the average. The stock has a $259.3 billion market capitalization and trades at a high price-to-earnings ratio of 64.86.
• Analysts remain bullish, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $227.80, implying potential upside. Several firms recently raised their targets to between $240 and $255.
• The company exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.02 in EPS and $3.04 billion in revenue, with revenue up 37.7% year over year. However, insiders have sold about $745.7 million of stock over the past 90 days, while institutional investors own 82.47% of shares.

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) rose 1% during trading on Thursday. The company traded as high as $206.54 and last traded at $205.6010. 3,554,695 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 56% from the average daily volume of 8,100,731 shares. The stock had previously closed at $203.47.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ANET shares. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $255.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Bank of America restated a "buy" rating and set a $240.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $175.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-one have issued a Buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $227.80.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The stock's 50 day moving average price is $189.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $166.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $259.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.86, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.62.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.73 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 37.7% on a year-over-year basis. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.060-1.080 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Arista Networks news, Director Mark Templeton sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.16, for a total value of $985,800.00. Following the sale, the director owned 53,410 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,530,315.60. This trade represents a 8.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Kenneth Duda sold 17,333 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.50, for a total value of $3,527,265.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,640,616. This represents a 57.19% 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. Insiders have sold 3,827,694 shares of company stock worth $745,740,910 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Arista Networks by 181.2% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 523,202 shares of the technology company's stock worth $88,882,000 after buying an additional 337,133 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 165.9% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 159,817 shares of the technology company's stock worth $27,150,000 after purchasing an additional 99,707 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 199.0% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,630,196 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,635,978,000 after purchasing an additional 6,409,612 shares during the period. Andra AP fonden raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 106.2% in the second quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 515,400 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $87,556,000 after purchasing an additional 265,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in Arista Networks by 159.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 121,303,125 shares of the technology company's stock worth $20,606,975,000 after purchasing an additional 74,541,134 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company's stock.

About Arista Networks

Arista Networks, Inc designs, develops and sells cloud networking solutions for large data centers, cloud service providers, internet companies, enterprises and other organizations. Its portfolio includes high-performance Ethernet switches, routers and wireless networking products used to connect servers, storage systems, users and applications across data center and campus environments.

The company's software offerings include Arista EOS, its Linux-based network operating system, and CloudVision, a cloud-based platform for network management, automation, monitoring and analytics.

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