Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Downgraded by Zacks Research to “Hold”

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

Several other brokerages have also commented on ANET. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Arista Networks from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $181.00 price objective (up from $175.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective (up from $170.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Susquehanna upgraded shares of Arista Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.84.

Arista Networks Trading Down 3.9%

Shares of NYSE ANET opened at $141.98 on Thursday. Arista Networks has a 12 month low of $83.86 and a 12 month high of $179.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $178.78 billion, a PE ratio of 48.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.67. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $144.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $137.64.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The technology company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.32% and a return on equity of 30.10%. The business had revenue of $2.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.1% on a year-over-year basis. Arista Networks has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.880 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Arista Networks will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 428,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.44, for a total value of $75,944,320.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,209,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $924,321,690.08. This represents a 7.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.31, for a total transaction of $5,225,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $2,119,110.56. This represents a 71.15% 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,502,729 shares of company stock worth $246,707,719. 3.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Arista Networks by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 101,189,629 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $13,258,877,000 after purchasing an additional 1,188,799 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Arista Networks by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 46,970,697 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,154,570,000 after purchasing an additional 628,146 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Arista Networks by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 37,171,766 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,870,618,000 after purchasing an additional 380,724 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Arista Networks by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,447,629 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,455,095,000 after purchasing an additional 477,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,558,563,000. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Arista Networks News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reuters-based 13-F filings show institutional investors added to or started positions in major AI infrastructure names, including Arista Networks, signaling continued professional buying interest in the company’s long-term AI networking story. Institutional investors boosted holdings of AI infrastructure plays during first quarter
• Positive Sentiment: Raymond James upgraded Arista to Outperform, citing share gains in AI-backend and campus networking, plus demand from major customers such as Meta Platforms and Microsoft. Arista upgraded to outperform as it gains share in AI-backend and campus: Raymond James
• Positive Sentiment: Truist said Arista’s post-earnings pullback may be an attractive buying opportunity, keeping the name on bullish watch lists as investors weigh strong underlying demand against near-term volatility. Truist Views Arista Networks (ANET)’s Post-Q1 Sell-Off As An Attractive Buying Opportunity
• Neutral Sentiment: Several recent articles compare Arista with other AI-related stocks and question whether the rally has already priced in much of the upside, which may be adding to investor caution after a strong multi-year run. Is It Too Late To Consider Arista Networks (ANET) After Strong Multi Year Share Gains?
• Neutral Sentiment: Other coverage notes Arista’s AI demand remains strong, but supply-chain constraints and margin pressure could limit near-term upside even as revenue guidance stays solid. AI-Fueled Demand Amid Supply Strains Might Change The Case For Investing In Arista Networks (ANET)
• Negative Sentiment: One analyst-style comparison argued Jabil looks stronger than Arista on valuation and AI data-center exposure, reflecting some relative-value skepticism toward ANET. Arista vs. Jabil: Which AI-Driven Tech Stock Looks Stronger Now?

Arista Networks Company Profile

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.