Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Up 1.5% – Still a Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) shares traded up 1.5% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $127.20 and last traded at $126.7140. 5,119,408 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 35% from the average session volume of 7,932,738 shares. The stock had previously closed at $124.85.

Trending Headlines about Arista Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Arista formed a multi‑source agreement (MSA) for the liquid‑cooled 12.8T XPO pluggable optics module aimed at extreme AI bandwidth needs — this strengthens Arista’s product roadmap for AI data centers and could expand design wins with hyperscalers. Arista Networks (ANET) Forms MSA for Liquid-Cooled 12.8T XPO Modules
• Positive Sentiment: Susquehanna initiated coverage with a Positive rating and $160 price target, citing Arista’s positioning as an AI data‑center networking play — analyst coverage like this can lift sentiment and support higher multiples. Wall Street Backs Arista Networks as AI Data Center Play
• Positive Sentiment: Truist initiated coverage (buy/strong‑buy) and other outlets highlight a bullish stance with sizable upside estimates after Arista’s recent pullback — new institutional coverage/upgrades often trigger inflows and boost near‑term demand. Truist Securities initiates coverage of Arista Networks (ANET) with buy recommendation
• Positive Sentiment: Retail/investor commentary is bullish: The Motley Fool highlighted Arista as a top 2026 buy after a favorable change in memory pricing dynamics — positive buy pieces can support retail buying interest. Here’s Why Arista Networks (ANET) is the First Stock I’ve Purchased in 2026
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry consolidation/update: d‑Matrix acquired GigaIO’s data‑center business (rack‑scale interconnect expertise). This is notable for the ecosystem but its direct impact on Arista is unclear — could be competitive at the rack‑scale systems level or complementary to Arista’s switch/optics roadmap. d-Matrix Boosts Rack-scale AI Capabilities With Acquisition of GigaIO Data Center Business

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ANET. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, March 27th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $188.00 price objective (up from $165.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on Arista Networks in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $170.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $175.61.

Arista Networks Stock Up 1.5%

The firm has a market capitalization of $159.22 billion, a PE ratio of 45.91, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.48. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $135.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.31.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arista Networks news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.67, for a total transaction of $1,029,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $229,547.28. The trade was a 81.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total value of $4,292,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,740,600.64. The trade was a 71.15% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 199,632 shares of company stock worth $26,936,324. Company insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 56.7% in the third quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 199 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Sankala Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Prosperity Bancshares Inc bought a new position in Arista Networks in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. 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.