Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading 5% Higher – Time to Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) traded up 5% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $147.89 and last traded at $147.7620. 14,415,477 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 66% from the average session volume of 8,703,971 shares. The stock had previously closed at $140.69.

Arista Networks News Roundup

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?

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, February 13th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $195.00 price target (up from $184.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Thursday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $188.00 price target (up from $165.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $181.84.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $144.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $137.64. The company has a market cap of $178.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.67.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The technology company reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.32% and a return on equity of 30.10%. The company had revenue of $2.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue 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, equities research analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.26 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 428,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total transaction of $4,292,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,502,729 shares of company stock valued at $246,707,719. 3.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

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