Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Jumps 1.8% – Time to Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) shot 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 Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ANET shares. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Arista Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, August 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $220.00 price target for the company. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $248.00 price objective (up from $215.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 target price (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 have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $233.20.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $232.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.60. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $197.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $175.58.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $3.04 billion during 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 was up 37.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.73 EPS. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.060-1.080 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 767,029 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 16,387,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,297,589,536.82. This represents a 4.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 300,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider owned 181,143,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,826,381,658.40. This represents a 0.17% decrease in their position. 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 sold 3,584,116 shares of company stock worth $733,396,013. 2.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp grew its position in Arista Networks by 159.4% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in Arista Networks during the second quarter valued at about $1,101,860,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Arista Networks by 199.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 6,409,612 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in Arista Networks during the second quarter worth about $537,736,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 34.6% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,725,196 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,712,788,000 after purchasing an additional 2,497,275 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Company Profile

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.