Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Down 4.1% – What’s Next?

Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) traded down 4.1% on Monday . The company traded as low as $126.26 and last traded at $127.3110. 9,544,910 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 7% from the average session volume of 8,954,490 shares. The stock had previously closed at $132.79.

Arista Networks News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Arista Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs raised its price target to $188 and kept a Buy rating, citing Arista’s strong positioning in AI data‑center networking — a clear catalyst for higher valuation expectations. Goldman Sachs Raises PT on Arista Networks
• Positive Sentiment: Arista raised its 2026 revenue-growth outlook, pointing to accelerating demand for AI-focused Ethernet switching and share gains in high‑speed data‑center networking — fundamental news that supports longer-term upside. Arista Networks Ups 2026 Outlook
• Positive Sentiment: Market commentary and stock-picking outlets are highlighting Arista as a top AI-infrastructure/growth stock, increasing retail and institutional interest in the name. These narratives can sustain demand as AI capex continues. Fool: AI Infrastructure Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry pieces note Arista’s growth alignment with Ethernet/AI trends and inclusion in indices (Russell 1000), which is supportive but more incremental versus direct catalysts. Kalkine: Growth Aligns With Ethernet AI
• Neutral Sentiment: Broad analyst coverage (Zacks, MSN, CNBC rounds) continues to praise long‑term growth metrics and style scores — helpful for sentiment but not immediate price drivers. Zacks: Top Growth Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Erste Group published FY2027 earnings forecasts for Arista — useful for modeling but not a near-term market mover by itself. Erste Group Forecast
• Negative Sentiment: A recent report flagged insider selling, which has coincided with a short-term pullback in the stock and may have amplified profit-taking after the multi‑year rally. Insider Selling Report

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ANET has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, February 13th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $178.00 price objective (up previously from $170.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Arista Networks from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $175.44.

Arista Networks Trading Down 4.1%

The stock has a market cap of $159.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $133.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $137.63.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The technology company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.07. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.37% and a net margin of 38.99%.The company had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.38 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. Arista Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.43, for a total value of $1,123,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 9,784 shares in the company, valued at $1,373,967.12. The trade was a 44.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.44, for a total transaction of $4,558,080.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,848,301.44. This represents a 71.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 218,042 shares of company stock worth $28,561,131. Corporate insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the second quarter valued at $1,228,177,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 2,829.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,721,156 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $833,630,000 after buying an additional 5,525,828 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 82.5% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 9,587,115 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,396,939,000 after purchasing an additional 4,332,659 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 3,182.7% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 4,012,373 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $525,741,000 after purchasing an additional 3,890,146 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Arista Networks by 59.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,878,360 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,032,302,000 after purchasing an additional 2,934,098 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.