Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price Up 8.7% – What’s Next?

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s share price traded up 8.7% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $146.40 and last traded at $138.41. 14,896,998 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 82% from the average session volume of 8,165,321 shares. The stock had previously closed at $127.29.

Arista Networks News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Piper Sandler upgraded ANET to Overweight and raised its price target (to $159), citing a “year of refresh” as hyperscalers shift capex from chips to network infrastructure (800G/1.6T adoption). The upgrade reinforces the consensus Buy posture and is being cited as a primary reason for recent upside momentum. Can ‘Year of Refresh’ Thesis Reignite Arista’s AI Growth Story?
• Neutral Sentiment: ANET posted a strong short-term move (a high-volume rally noted by Zacks), which signals investor interest and liquidity — but Zacks warns that recent earnings estimate revision trends may not sustain the move without confirmatory earnings/capex data. Momentum is present, but fundamentals and guidance will need to follow. Arista Networks (ANET) Moves 8.7% Higher: Will This Strength Last?
• Neutral Sentiment: General sector coverage highlights cloud and AI infrastructure as themes investors can use for exposure; this is background tailwind for Arista but not company-specific news that directly moves the stock. Treat as thematic support rather than a catalyst. Seeking Cloud Exposure? Use This Tool
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: SEC filings show Kenneth Duda sold shares in recent January transactions (two filings totalling ~56,000 shares at about $128.43 each). Insider sales can raise short-term caution among investors, especially given Arista’s customer concentration and high valuation. SEC Filing — Insider Sales

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $145.00 to $159.00 in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $171.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $164.44.

Arista Networks Stock Down 1.5%

The stock has a market cap of $171.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $128.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $133.71.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The technology company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.26 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.28% and a net margin of 39.73%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 27.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.79, for a total transaction of $1,070,320.00. Following the sale, the director owned 17,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,379,321.36. The trade was a 31.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Kenneth Duda sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.61, for a total transaction of $3,858,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,668,843.36. This trade represents a 69.81% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 216,464 shares of company stock worth $27,687,068. Company insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 56.7% in the third quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 199 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in Arista Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its position in Arista Networks by 141.3% in the 3rd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 222 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arista Networks Company Profile

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.