Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading 2.7% Higher - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Arista Networks shares rose 2.7% to about $192.82, while trading volume was 40% below the average session level.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with a consensus “Buy” rating and a $227.80 price target. Recent targets range from $220 to $250, despite one downgrade to “Hold.”
• The company exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.02 in EPS and $3.04 billion in revenue—up 37.7% year over year—though insiders have sold roughly $684.7 million of shares over the past three months.

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) traded up 2.7% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $194.69 and last traded at $192.8240. 4,906,076 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 40% from the average session volume of 8,197,946 shares. The stock had previously closed at $187.81.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ANET. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Arista Networks from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, August 31st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $220.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $220.00 target price (up from $190.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $250.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $227.80.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $186.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $162.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $243.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.62.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.73 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter 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, analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other news, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 300,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Mark Templeton sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.16, for a total value of $985,800.00. Following the transaction, 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 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,527,694 shares of company stock worth $684,665,787. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Main Street Group LTD bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Sankala Group LLC purchased a new stake in Arista Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. ABS Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Arista Networks during the second quarter valued at about $29,000. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 184.9% in the first quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC now owns 245 shares of the technology company's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Company Profile

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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