Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Climb 1.8% – Should You Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) was up 1.8% during trading on Wednesday. The stock traded as high as $188.99 and last traded at $184.4220. Approximately 6,517,573 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 17% from the average session volume of 7,845,884 shares. The stock had previously closed at $181.19.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on ANET. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $250.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Arista Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings lowered Arista Networks from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and issued a $248.00 target price (up from $215.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $233.20.

Arista Networks Stock Up 1.8%

The company has a market cap of $232.60 billion, a PE ratio of 58.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.60. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $197.98 and a 200-day moving average of $175.58.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company 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. Research analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 767,029 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.22, for a total transaction of $154,341,575.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 16,387,981 shares in the company, valued at $3,297,589,536.82. This represents a 4.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 300,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.30, for a total transaction of $60,990,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 181,143,048 shares in the company, valued at $36,826,381,658.40. This represents a 0.17% decrease in their position. 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 3,584,116 shares of company stock worth $733,396,013 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 159.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 121,303,125 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $20,606,975,000 after acquiring an additional 74,541,134 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Arista Networks by 34.6% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,725,196 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,712,788,000 after acquiring an additional 2,497,275 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Arista Networks by 199.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 6,409,612 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in Arista Networks by 4.3% during the second quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 9,357,496 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,589,651,000 after purchasing an additional 388,354 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 9,064,443 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,112,932,000 after purchasing an additional 491,173 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Arista Networks

Arista Networks, Inc develops and sells cloud networking solutions for data centers, cloud service providers, enterprises and specialized computing environments. The company’s products are designed to support high-performance, scalable and automated networks used for cloud computing, artificial intelligence, data analytics and other demanding applications.

Arista’s portfolio includes data center and campus switches, routing platforms, wireless networking products, network operating software and network management tools.