Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Rating Lowered to Hold at Zacks Research

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

ANET has been the subject of several other research reports. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $181.00 price target (up from $175.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target (up from $170.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Arista Networks from $176.00 to $173.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.84.

Arista Networks Stock Down 3.9%

NYSE:ANET opened at $141.98 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $178.78 billion, a PE ratio of 48.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.67. Arista Networks has a 52-week low of $83.86 and a 52-week high of $179.80. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $144.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $137.64.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The technology company reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.62 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.10% and a net margin of 38.32%.The business’s revenue was up 35.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. Arista Networks has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.880 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Arista Networks will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Chantelle Yvette Breithaupt sold 8,890 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.02, for a total transaction of $1,378,127.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 60,734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,414,984.68. This trade represents a 12.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.31, for a total value of $5,225,920.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,119,110.56. This represents a 71.15% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 1,502,729 shares of company stock worth $246,707,719 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Arista Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,558,563,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 2,829.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,721,156 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $833,630,000 after buying an additional 5,525,828 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 82.5% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 9,587,115 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,396,939,000 after buying an additional 4,332,659 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 3,182.7% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 4,012,373 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $525,741,000 after buying an additional 3,890,146 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 59.3% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,878,360 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,032,302,000 after buying an additional 2,934,098 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Arista Networks News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reuters-based 13-F filings show institutional investors added to or started positions in major AI infrastructure names, including Arista Networks, signaling continued professional buying interest in the company’s long-term AI networking story. Institutional investors boosted holdings of AI infrastructure plays during first quarter
• Positive Sentiment: Raymond James upgraded Arista to Outperform, citing share gains in AI-backend and campus networking, plus demand from major customers such as Meta Platforms and Microsoft. Arista upgraded to outperform as it gains share in AI-backend and campus: Raymond James
• Positive Sentiment: Truist said Arista’s post-earnings pullback may be an attractive buying opportunity, keeping the name on bullish watch lists as investors weigh strong underlying demand against near-term volatility. Truist Views Arista Networks (ANET)’s Post-Q1 Sell-Off As An Attractive Buying Opportunity
• Neutral Sentiment: Several recent articles compare Arista with other AI-related stocks and question whether the rally has already priced in much of the upside, which may be adding to investor caution after a strong multi-year run. Is It Too Late To Consider Arista Networks (ANET) After Strong Multi Year Share Gains?
• Neutral Sentiment: Other coverage notes Arista’s AI demand remains strong, but supply-chain constraints and margin pressure could limit near-term upside even as revenue guidance stays solid. AI-Fueled Demand Amid Supply Strains Might Change The Case For Investing In Arista Networks (ANET)
• Negative Sentiment: One analyst-style comparison argued Jabil looks stronger than Arista on valuation and AI data-center exposure, reflecting some relative-value skepticism toward ANET. Arista vs. Jabil: Which AI-Driven Tech Stock Looks Stronger Now?

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.