Decoding Arista Networks's Options Activity: What's the Big Picture?

Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bearish stance on Arista Networks ANET.

And retail traders should know.

We noticed this today when the trades showed up on publicly available options history that we track here at Benzinga.

Whether these are institutions or just wealthy individuals, we don't know. But when something this big happens with ANET, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen.

So how do we know what these investors just did?

Today, Benzinga's options scanner spotted 24 uncommon options trades for Arista Networks.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 25% bullish and 75%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 2 are puts, for a total amount of $93,400, and 22 are calls, for a total amount of $1,449,633.

Predicted Price Range

Analyzing the Volume and Open Interest in these contracts, it seems that the big players have been eyeing a price window from $220.0 to $360.0 for Arista Networks during the past quarter.

Analyzing Volume & Open Interest

In today's trading context, the average open interest for options of Arista Networks stands at 541.52, with a total volume reaching 852.00. The accompanying chart delineates the progression of both call and put option volume and open interest for high-value trades in Arista Networks, situated within the strike price corridor from $220.0 to $360.0, throughout the last 30 days.

Arista Networks Option Activity Analysis: Last 30 Days

Biggest Options Spotted:

About Arista Networks

Arista Networks Inc is a networking equipment provider that primarily sells Ethernet switches and software to data centers. Its marquee product is its extensible operating system, or EOS, that runs a single image across every single one of its devices. The firm operates as one reportable segment. It has steadily gained market share since its founding in 2004, with a focus on high-speed applications. Arista counts Microsoft and Meta Platforms as its largest customers and derives roughly three quarters of its sales from North America.

Following our analysis of the options activities associated with Arista Networks, we pivot to a closer look at the company's own performance.

Arista Networks's Current Market Status

• Trading volume stands at 1,149,369, with ANET's price up by 1.72%, positioned at $282.3.
• RSI indicators show the stock to be may be approaching overbought.
• Earnings announcement expected in 59 days.

What The Experts Say On Arista Networks

A total of 5 professional analysts have given their take on this stock in the last 30 days, setting an average price target of $309.6.

• Maintaining their stance, an analyst from Wells Fargo continues to hold a Overweight rating for Arista Networks, targeting a price of $310.
• An analyst from JMP Securities persists with their Market Outperform rating on Arista Networks, maintaining a target price of $325.
• An analyst from JMP Securities downgraded its action to Market Outperform with a price target of $325.
• An analyst from Piper Sandler has decided to maintain their Neutral rating on Arista Networks, which currently sits at a price target of $268.
• In a cautious move, an analyst from Needham downgraded its rating to Buy, setting a price target of $320.

Options are a riskier asset compared to just trading the stock, but they have higher profit potential. Serious options traders manage this risk by educating themselves daily, scaling in and out of trades, following more than one indicator, and following the markets closely.

If you want to stay updated on the latest options trades for Arista Networks, Benzinga Pro gives you real-time options trades alerts.