Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Up 2.5% – Time to Buy?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s stock price shot up 2.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $161.50 and last traded at $159.0930. 15,258,921 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 72% from the average session volume of 8,847,229 shares. The stock had previously closed at $155.27.

More Arista Networks News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlighted Arista Networks as a strong growth stock, pointing to its appeal across growth and momentum screens and reinforcing the view that ANET remains a high-quality long-term compounder. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Another Zacks note said ANET is benefiting from AI infrastructure spending, with hyperscalers expanding networks and driving demand for next-generation Ethernet products, which supports the company’s growth outlook. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street remains constructive on Arista Networks, with multiple analysts reiterating Buy/Overweight ratings and lifting price targets, reflecting confidence in continued revenue and earnings growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent earnings were solid, with Arista beating EPS and revenue estimates and posting 35% year-over-year revenue growth, which continues to underpin bullish sentiment.
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional ownership remains high, and several small new positions were reported, but these filings are unlikely to be a major near-term driver on their own.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider sales by CFO Chantelle Yvette Breithaupt, CEO Jayshree Ullal, and major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim may create some short-term caution, even though the trades were made under pre-arranged 10b5-1 plans.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on ANET. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $187.00 target price (up from $177.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Susquehanna upgraded shares of Arista Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $195.00 price objective (up from $184.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $185.72.

Arista Networks Trading Up 2.5%

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $147.52 and its 200-day moving average is $137.61. The stock has a market cap of $200.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.67.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The technology company reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.62 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.32% and a return on equity of 30.10%. The company’s revenue was up 35.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.65 EPS. Arista Networks has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.880 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 220,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.86, for a total transaction of $34,509,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 182,803,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,674,486,109.28. This represents a 0.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 422 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.44, for a total transaction of $61,797.68. Following the sale, the director directly owned 10,078 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,475,822.32. This trade represents a 4.02% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,943,142 shares of company stock worth $314,618,583. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ANET. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Main Street Group LTD acquired a new stake in Arista Networks in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Sankala Group LLC acquired a new stake in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Prosperity Bancshares Inc acquired a new stake in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in Arista Networks in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.