Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Upgraded at BNP Paribas Exane

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) was upgraded by research analysts at BNP Paribas Exane to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

ANET has been the subject of several other reports. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $255.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $250.00 target price on Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, August 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $220.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $240.00 price target (up from $181.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Arista Networks presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.45.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of ANET opened at $185.53 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $198.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.33. Arista Networks has a one year low of $114.52 and a one year high of $217.41. The stock has a market cap of $234.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.60.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arista Networks news, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 300,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.30, for a total transaction of $60,990,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 181,143,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,826,381,658.40. This trade represents a 0.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 767,029 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.22, for a total value of $154,341,575.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer 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 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 3,627,449 shares of company stock valued at $740,784,723 over the last 90 days. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cura Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 3.1% during the second quarter. Cura Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,748 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $297,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Arista Networks by 1.4% during the third quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,770 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $817,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc raised its position in Arista Networks by 2.8% during the second quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc now owns 2,179 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $370,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Intrua Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 2.7% in the first quarter. Intrua Financial LLC now owns 2,307 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $283,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, Shepherd Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 1.2% in the second quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 5,403 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $918,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. 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, campus environments and high-performance computing applications. Its products include Ethernet switches, routers, wireless access points and related networking equipment designed to support cloud computing, artificial intelligence, enterprise and service-provider networks.

The company’s software portfolio includes Arista EOS, its network operating system, and CloudVision, a platform that helps customers manage, automate and monitor network infrastructure.