Arista Networks Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:ANET)

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors purchased 44,291 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 74% compared to the typical daily volume of 25,502 call options.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 422 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.15, for a total value of $49,437.30. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,052,007. This trade represents a 4.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kenneth Duda sold 26,000 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 transaction of $3,339,180.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 522,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,091,832. This represents a 4.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 216,464 shares of company stock valued at $27,553,548. Corporate insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 56.7% in the third quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 199 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new stake in Arista Networks in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 141.3% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Erste Group Bank cut Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Arista Networks from $171.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $183.00 target price (up previously from $179.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $166.00.

Arista Networks Trading Down 3.5%

NYSE:ANET opened at $135.79 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $132.80 and its 200-day moving average is $136.70. Arista Networks has a 1-year low of $59.43 and a 1-year high of $164.94. The stock has a market cap of $171.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.42.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The technology company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.07. Arista Networks had a net margin of 39.73% and a return on equity of 30.28%. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.38 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 28.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Arista Networks will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Arista Networks News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat expectations — Arista reported $0.82 EPS vs. $0.75 consensus and revenue of $2.49B vs. $2.38B consensus, with revenue up ~29% YoY and strong margins, giving investors concrete evidence of durable demand. Zacks: ANET Beats Q4
• Positive Sentiment: Management issued upbeat revenue guidance — the company guided Q1 revenue near $2.6B and forecasted full-year revenue above Street estimates, citing accelerating AI-driven data center demand; that outlook triggered sizable after-hours buying. Reuters: Arista forecasts upbeat revenue
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support strengthened — Rosenblatt raised its price target and other upgrades/positive notes hit ahead of the print, reinforcing bullish sentiment and likely contributing to increased demand. Yahoo: Rosenblatt Raises PT
• Neutral Sentiment: Company commentary and call transcript provide color (Arista 2.0 momentum, network port milestones) that supports long-term thesis but contains execution details investors will parse on the conference call. Seeking Alpha: Q4 Call Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusually large options activity — traders bought tens of thousands of calls ahead of/around the print, which tends to amplify price moves and intraday volatility but is speculative in nature.
• Negative Sentiment: EPS guidance was not clearly provided (company released revenue guidance but the EPS line was left blank in the early update), leaving some earnings-forecast uncertainty that could lead to short-term volatility as analysts model margins and share buybacks.

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.