Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Up 2.5% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) traded up 2.5% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $200.25 and last traded at $197.6220. Approximately 4,448,374 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 46% from the average session volume of 8,178,413 shares. The stock had previously closed at $192.84.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ANET has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and set a $255.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $240.00 price target (up from $181.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, August 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $220.00 price objective on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $210.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Arista Networks from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $227.80.

Arista Networks Stock Up 2.5%

The company has a market cap of $249.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.34, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.62. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $163.18.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.13. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.65% and a net margin of 38.37%.The business had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.73 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 37.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.060-1.080 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 767,029 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.22, for a total value of $154,341,575.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 16,387,981 shares in the company, valued at $3,297,589,536.82. This trade represents a 4.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 300,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.30, for a total transaction of $60,990,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 181,143,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,826,381,658.40. This trade represents a 0.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 3,527,694 shares of company stock worth $684,665,787 over the last quarter. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 9,357,496 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,589,651,000 after purchasing an additional 388,354 shares during the last quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,058,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 59.8% in the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 17,621 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,309,000 after buying an additional 6,591 shares during the period. First National Bank of Mount Dora Trust Investment Services bought a new position in Arista Networks during the first quarter worth about $5,279,000. Finally, Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 564.1% during the 2nd quarter. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. now owns 16,847 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,862,000 after buying an additional 14,310 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Arista Networks

Arista Networks, Inc designs, develops and sells cloud networking solutions for large data centers, cloud service providers, internet companies, enterprises and other organizations. Its portfolio includes high-performance Ethernet switches, routers and wireless networking products used to connect servers, storage systems, users and applications across data center and campus environments.

The company’s software offerings include Arista EOS, its Linux-based network operating system, and CloudVision, a cloud-based platform for network management, automation, monitoring and analytics.