Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Up 4.2% – Should You Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) shares traded up 4.2% on Monday . The company traded as high as $122.42 and last traded at $122.31. 12,254,312 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 22% from the average session volume of 10,068,658 shares. The stock had previously closed at $117.43.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ANET. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, September 12th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Arista Networks from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Arista Networks from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $145.00 price target (up from $143.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Arista Networks from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $164.31.

Arista Networks Stock Up 4.2%

The company has a market capitalization of $154.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 1.48. The business has a 50 day moving average of $143.43 and a 200 day moving average of $123.45.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The technology company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 40.90%.The company’s revenue was up 27.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.40 EPS. Arista Networks has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 1,247,688 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.53, for a total transaction of $185,319,098.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 5,383,207 shares in the company, valued at $799,567,735.71. This trade represents a 18.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.12, for a total transaction of $1,256,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 33,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,308,142.08. This trade represents a 19.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 1,985,000 shares of company stock valued at $290,730,843 over the last 90 days. 3.39% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 19.8% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 613,309 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $47,519,000 after purchasing an additional 101,162 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the 1st quarter worth $15,227,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 94.8% during the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 650,011 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $50,363,000 after buying an additional 316,309 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 1.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 98,993,100 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,127,984,000 after buying an additional 1,136,167 shares during the period. Finally, Soltis Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 99.3% in the second quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 40,428 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,136,000 after acquiring an additional 20,141 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Arista Networks

Arista Networks, Inc engages in the development, marketing, and sale of data-driven, client to cloud networking solutions for data center, campus, and routing environments in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. Its cloud networking solutions consist of Extensible Operating System (EOS), a publish-subscribe state-sharing networking operating system offered in combination with a set of network applications.