Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Down 1.2% After Insider Selling

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) shares traded down 1.2% during trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $125.34 and last traded at $128.6870. 9,579,591 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 12% from the average session volume of 8,523,276 shares. The stock had previously closed at $130.28.

Specifically, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.43, for a total transaction of $1,123,440.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,373,967.12. The trade was a 44.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ANET shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $171.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Monday, November 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $164.44.

More Arista Networks News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Renewed AI/data-center optimism — multiple recent pieces highlight Arista’s cash strength and positioning to win AI data-center networking spend, supporting a growth re-rating for ANET. Arista Networks’ Cash Strength Underpins AI Data Center Ambitions
• Positive Sentiment: Valuation debate tilting constructive — articles revisiting ANET’s valuation after AI optimism argue the stock can justify higher multiples if AI spending accelerates. This supports analyst target increases and the market’s “moderate buy” consensus. A Look At Arista Networks (ANET) Valuation After Renewed AI Data Center Optimism
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst backdrop mixed but tilted positive — several firms (e.g., Piper Sandler, Morgan Stanley) have maintained or raised targets/ratings recently and the consensus target (~$164) is well above current levels, providing upside if execution continues. (Source: MarketBeat analyst summary)
• Neutral Sentiment: Media/analyst discussion piece — a Zacks article examines whether Wall Street’s bullish views on ANET are actionable for retail investors; useful context but not a direct catalyst. Is It Worth Investing in Arista Networks (ANET) Based on Wall Street’s Bullish Views?
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional activity shows modest additions by several funds and very high institutional ownership (~82%), which supports liquidity and long-term investor interest but is not an immediate price driver.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider sale by director Charles H. Giancarlo — sold 8,000 shares for ~$1.12M (avg $140.43), reducing his stake by ~45%. Significant insider selling tends to weigh on sentiment and can amplify short‑term selling pressure. SEC filing: SEC Filing

Arista Networks Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $131.66 and a 200-day moving average of $135.75. The firm has a market cap of $162.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.42.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The technology company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.03. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.28% and a net margin of 39.73%.The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.40 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 27.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ANET. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 56.7% during the 3rd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 199 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in Arista Networks during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 141.3% in the 3rd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 222 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Institutional investors 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.