11,894,702 Shares in Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET Acquired by Norges Bank

Key Points

• Norges Bank disclosed a new fourth-quarter position in Arista Networks, buying 11.9 million shares valued at about $1.56 billion. The stake represented roughly 0.94% of the company.
• Arista Networks reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $0.87 beating estimates and revenue of $2.71 billion topping forecasts. Revenue rose 35.1% year over year, and the company issued Q2 2026 EPS guidance of $0.88.
• Sentiment on ANET remains broadly positive, with multiple analysts reaffirming or raising ratings and the stock carrying a Buy consensus target of about $185.72. However, recent insider selling by executives and a major shareholder may temper near-term enthusiasm.

Norges Bank bought a new position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 11,894,702 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,558,563,000. Norges Bank owned about 0.94% of Arista Networks as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ANET. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Ares Financial Consulting LLC purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Arista Networks Stock Up 2.5%

ANET opened at $159.09 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $200.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.67. The firm's 50 day moving average is $147.52 and its 200-day moving average is $137.61. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $83.86 and a 52-week high of $179.80.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The technology company reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.62 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.32% and a return on equity of 30.10%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 35.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. Arista Networks has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.880 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

More Arista Networks News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlighted Arista Networks as a strong growth stock, pointing to its appeal across growth and momentum screens and reinforcing the view that ANET remains a high-quality long-term compounder. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Another Zacks note said ANET is benefiting from AI infrastructure spending, with hyperscalers expanding networks and driving demand for next-generation Ethernet products, which supports the company’s growth outlook. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street remains constructive on Arista Networks, with multiple analysts reiterating Buy/Overweight ratings and lifting price targets, reflecting confidence in continued revenue and earnings growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent earnings were solid, with Arista beating EPS and revenue estimates and posting 35% year-over-year revenue growth, which continues to underpin bullish sentiment.
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional ownership remains high, and several small new positions were reported, but these filings are unlikely to be a major near-term driver on their own.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider sales by CFO Chantelle Yvette Breithaupt, CEO Jayshree Ullal, and major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim may create some short-term caution, even though the trades were made under pre-arranged 10b5-1 plans.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ANET has been the topic of several research reports. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $164.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, May 15th. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, February 13th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $187.00 price target (up from $177.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $185.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Susquehanna upgraded shares of Arista Networks to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $185.72.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other news, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 220,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.86, for a total transaction of $34,509,200.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 182,803,048 shares in the company, valued at $28,674,486,109.28. This trade represents a 0.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 422 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.44, for a total transaction of $61,797.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 10,078 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,475,822.32. This trade represents a 4.02% 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,943,142 shares of company stock valued at $314,618,583. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Arista Networks 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.

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