Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Cut to Hold at Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday,Zacks reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on ANET. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Arista Networks from $175.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Arista Networks from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, September 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $231.70.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of ANET stock opened at $215.71 on Monday. Arista Networks has a one year low of $114.52 and a one year high of $217.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $196.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $171.18. The stock has a market cap of $272.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.60.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.37% and a return on equity of 30.65%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 37.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.73 EPS. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.060-1.080 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks will post 3.74 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other news, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 300,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.95, for a total value of $59,685,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 180,543,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,919,039,399.60. The trade was a 0.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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 the business’s 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 $2,640,616. The trade was a 57.19% 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 quarter, insiders have sold 3,144,894 shares of company stock valued at $631,310,023. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ANET. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 159.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 121,303,125 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $20,606,975,000 after purchasing an additional 74,541,134 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in Arista Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,101,860,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Arista Networks by 199.0% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,630,196 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,635,978,000 after purchasing an additional 6,409,612 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in Arista Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $537,736,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 34.6% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,725,196 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,712,788,000 after buying an additional 2,497,275 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Arista Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Arista announced an open Ethernet rack-scale portfolio designed for high-density, scale-up and scale-out AI infrastructure. The liquid-cooled solutions use open standards and were developed with partners including AMD, Arm, Broadcom, Meta, Microsoft and Qualcomm, strengthening Arista’s positioning in the fast-growing AI data-center networking market. Arista Announces Rack-Scale Architectures for Scale-Up and Scale-Out AI Fabrics
• Positive Sentiment: ClearBridge Investments highlighted Arista as an AI infrastructure company with solid execution, a clearer path to AI monetization and raised guidance. The commentary suggests investors are favoring Arista over some higher-momentum semiconductor names. Arista Networks Outperforms AI Infrastructure Peers
• Positive Sentiment: Earlier analyst actions remain supportive: Bernstein initiated coverage at Outperform, while the broader analyst consensus is Buy with a $231.70 target. Arista’s latest reported quarter also showed strong momentum, including 37.7% year-over-year revenue growth and earnings above expectations.
• Neutral Sentiment: Arista will report third-quarter 2026 results after the market close on November 3. Investors may be positioning ahead of the release, with attention focused on whether AI-related demand supports the company’s guidance of $1.06-$1.08 in quarterly EPS. Arista Networks Q3 2026 Earnings Date
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks Research downgraded Arista from Strong Buy to Hold, which may have contributed to profit-taking after the stock’s sharp rally and elevated valuation.
• Negative Sentiment: A director sold 5,000 shares through a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. Although the transaction was scheduled in advance, it adds a modest negative signal for sentiment.

Arista Networks Company Profile

Arista Networks, Inc develops and sells cloud networking solutions for data centers, campus environments and high-performance computing applications. Its products include Ethernet switches, routers, wireless access points and related networking equipment designed to support cloud computing, artificial intelligence, enterprise and service-provider networks.

The company’s software portfolio includes Arista EOS, its network operating system, and CloudVision, a platform that helps customers manage, automate and monitor network infrastructure.