Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Falls 2.9% – Should You Sell?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s stock price dropped 2.9% during mid-day trading on Monday. The stock traded as low as $163.25 and last traded at $163.9490. 7,069,476 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 9% from the average daily volume of 7,788,382 shares. The stock had previously closed at $168.86.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, August 31st. They set a “buy” rating and a $220.00 price target for the company. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $210.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Arista Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on Arista Networks from $175.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Two research 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. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $232.95.

Arista Networks Trading Down 2.9%

The stock has a market cap of $206.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.72, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.60. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $195.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $164.70.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.13. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.65% and a net margin of 38.37%. The business had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.73 earnings per share. Arista Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 37.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.060-1.080 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 767,029 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.22, for a total value of $154,341,575.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 16,387,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,297,589,536.82. The trade was a 4.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 300,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.60, for a total transaction of $60,780,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 180,843,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,638,801,524.80. The trade was a 0.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 3,619,449 shares of company stock valued at $739,787,226 over the last 90 days. 2.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Davidson Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,512,000. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 9,357,496 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,589,651,000 after purchasing an additional 388,354 shares during the last quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 2,827.9% during the third quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 52,381 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,664,000 after acquiring an additional 50,592 shares during the last quarter. First National Bank of Mount Dora Trust Investment Services acquired a new stake in Arista Networks during the 1st quarter worth $5,279,000. Finally, Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. boosted its position in Arista Networks by 564.1% during the second quarter. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. now owns 16,847 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,862,000 after acquiring an additional 14,310 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

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.