Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Down 1.5% on Insider Selling

Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) traded down 1.5% during mid-day trading on Friday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $134.86 and last traded at $136.2990. 8,048,564 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 1% from the average session volume of 8,169,458 shares. The stock had previously closed at $138.41.

Specifically, insider Kenneth Duda sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.43, for a total transaction of $3,339,180.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 522,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,091,832. This trade represents a 4.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Kenneth Duda sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.43, for a total value of $3,852,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,666,507.68. The trade was a 69.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ANET. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $183.00 price objective (up from $179.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $145.00 to $159.00 in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $164.44.

More Arista Networks News

Here are the key news stories impacting Arista Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Piper Sandler upgraded ANET to Overweight and raised its price target (to $159), citing a “year of refresh” as hyperscalers shift capex from chips to network infrastructure (800G/1.6T adoption). The upgrade reinforces the consensus Buy posture and is being cited as a primary reason for recent upside momentum. Can ‘Year of Refresh’ Thesis Reignite Arista’s AI Growth Story?
• Neutral Sentiment: ANET posted a strong short-term move (a high-volume rally noted by Zacks), which signals investor interest and liquidity — but Zacks warns that recent earnings estimate revision trends may not sustain the move without confirmatory earnings/capex data. Momentum is present, but fundamentals and guidance will need to follow. Arista Networks (ANET) Moves 8.7% Higher: Will This Strength Last?
• Neutral Sentiment: General sector coverage highlights cloud and AI infrastructure as themes investors can use for exposure; this is background tailwind for Arista but not company-specific news that directly moves the stock. Treat as thematic support rather than a catalyst. Seeking Cloud Exposure? Use This Tool
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: SEC filings show Kenneth Duda sold shares in recent January transactions (two filings totalling ~56,000 shares at about $128.43 each). Insider sales can raise short-term caution among investors, especially given Arista’s customer concentration and high valuation. SEC Filing — Insider Sales

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $171.64 billion, a PE ratio of 51.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.41. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $128.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $133.92.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The technology company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.03. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.28% and a net margin of 39.73%.The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its position in Arista Networks by 56.7% during the 3rd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 199 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 141.3% during the third quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 222 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the third quarter worth about $33,000. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.