Barclays Has Lowered Expectations for Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) had its price target lowered by research analysts at Barclays from $289.00 to $236.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the technology company’s stock. Barclays‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 32.70% from the company’s current price.

ANET has been the topic of a number of other reports. Zacks Research cut shares of Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $245.00 price objective (down from $255.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Arista Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $250.00 target price on Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $236.90.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ANET traded up $7.93 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $177.84. The stock had a trading volume of 11,217,653 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,825,812. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $194.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $165.10. The firm has a market cap of $224.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.61. Arista Networks has a fifty-two week low of $114.52 and a fifty-two week high of $217.41.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The technology company reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.33 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.37% and a return on equity of 30.65%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 58.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Arista Networks will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In related news, CFO Chantelle Breithaupt sold 1,224 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.00, for a total transaction of $263,160.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 68,697 shares in the company, valued at $14,769,855. This trade represents a 1.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 267,892 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.19, for a total transaction of $45,860,431.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 180,275,156 shares in the company, valued at $30,861,303,955.64. This represents a 0.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 2,487,846 shares of company stock valued at $503,417,253 over the last quarter. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in Arista Networks by 159.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 121,303,125 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $20,606,975,000 after purchasing an additional 74,541,134 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,101,860,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 199.0% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,630,196 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,635,978,000 after purchasing an additional 6,409,612 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $537,736,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 34.6% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,725,196 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,712,788,000 after buying an additional 2,497,275 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Arista Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 revenue rose 58.5% year over year to $3.66 billion, above the $3.33 billion consensus, while EPS of $1.20 topped estimates of $1.08. Management also pointed to strong Q4 growth expectations. Article: Arista Networks’ Earnings, Revenue Outlook Handily Top Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Arista is targeting approximately $18.5 billion in 2027 revenue, including about $7 billion from AI fabrics—roughly double the expected AI business. The target reportedly exceeds current consensus and reinforces the company’s opportunity in AI data-center networking. Article: Arista Networks Q3 Earnings Call Maps Out 2027 AI Expansion
• Positive Sentiment: Truist raised its price target to $240 and reaffirmed a Buy rating; Rosenblatt maintained Buy with a $280 target. These calls add to the favorable analyst outlook after the results. Article: Truist price-target update
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are assessing whether supplier capacity and deferred-revenue trends can support the company’s ambitious AI expansion plans. These execution signals may shape confidence in the 2027 outlook. Article: Arista Networks Q3 Earnings Call Maps Out 2027 AI Expansion
• Negative Sentiment: Gross margin slipped as product sales accounted for a greater share of revenue, and some coverage highlighted slower growth outside the AI opportunity. That mix could temper the impact of strong AI demand if margins or non-AI business growth weaken. Article: Arista Revenue Up 58% as Q4 Outlook Slows

About Arista Networks

Arista Networks, Inc develops and sells cloud networking solutions for data centers, cloud service providers, enterprises and specialized computing environments. The company’s products are designed to support high-performance, scalable and automated networks used for cloud computing, artificial intelligence, data analytics and other demanding applications.

Arista’s portfolio includes data center and campus switches, routing platforms, wireless networking products, network operating software and network management tools.