1,678,810 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET Purchased by Confluence Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• Confluence Investment Management purchased 1.68 million Arista Networks shares worth approximately $341.8 million, making ANET its second-largest holding and representing about 0.13% of the company.
• Arista reported quarterly EPS of $1.02 versus the $0.89 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 37.7% year over year to $3.04 billion. The stock traded near $204, with a market capitalization of approximately $257.5 billion.
• Analysts maintain a favorable outlook, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $231.70; however, insiders sold $675.9 million of stock over the past three months, including sales by the CEO and major shareholder.

Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,678,810 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $341,789,000. Arista Networks comprises 5.2% of Confluence Investment Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Confluence Investment Management LLC owned about 0.13% of Arista Networks at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 159.4% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 121,303,125 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $20,606,975,000 after purchasing an additional 74,541,134 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in Arista Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,101,860,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 199.0% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,630,196 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,635,978,000 after buying an additional 6,409,612 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the second quarter worth $537,736,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 59.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,878,360 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,032,302,000 after buying an additional 2,934,098 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Price Performance

NYSE:ANET traded up $0.60 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $204.19. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,492,088 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,985,652. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.52 and a 1 year high of $214.89. The stock has a market cap of $257.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.32, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.62. The business's fifty day moving average is $192.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $168.53.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.13. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.65% and a net margin of 38.37%.The business had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.73 EPS. The company's revenue was up 37.7% on a year-over-year basis. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.060-1.080 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 300,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.30, for a total transaction of $60,990,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 181,143,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at $36,826,381,658.40. The trade was a 0.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 767,029 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.22, for a total transaction of $154,341,575.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 16,387,981 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,297,589,536.82. This represents a 4.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 3,382,316 shares of company stock valued at $675,904,720 over the last three months. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Zacks Research upgraded Arista Networks from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $250.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $231.70.

About Arista Networks

Arista Networks, Inc develops and sells cloud networking solutions for data centers, campus environments and high-performance computing applications. Its products include Ethernet switches, routers, wireless access points and related networking equipment designed to support cloud computing, artificial intelligence, enterprise and service-provider networks.

The company's software portfolio includes Arista EOS, its network operating system, and CloudVision, a platform that helps customers manage, automate and monitor network infrastructure.

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