Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading 2.9% Higher – Should You Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s share price was up 2.9% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $190.44 and last traded at $189.15. Approximately 8,119,531 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 5% from the average daily volume of 8,551,870 shares. The stock had previously closed at $183.75.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ANET. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 price target (up from $190.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Arista Networks to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $250.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $226.05.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $177.05 and a 200 day moving average of $156.05. The stock has a market cap of $238.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.60.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.73 EPS. Arista Networks’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. As a group, equities analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In related news, insider Kenneth Duda sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.51, for a total transaction of $4,433,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 462,400 shares in the company, valued at $78,843,824. The trade was a 5.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.02, for a total transaction of $1,448,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 184,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,367,959.66. The trade was a 4.16% 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. Insiders sold 4,128,775 shares of company stock valued at $767,332,289 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ANET. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 321.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,806 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $863,000 after acquiring an additional 5,955 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $202,000. Bison Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $251,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 48.4% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 10,723 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 3,496 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 31.3% during the 2nd quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 4,193 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $429,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.