AlphaQuest LLC Buys 7,752 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• AlphaQuest LLC significantly increased its stake in Arista Networks by acquiring an additional 7,752 shares, raising its total holdings to 8,627 shares valued at $668,000.
• Notable institutional investors have also increased their stakes, with Vanguard Group Inc. and Cresset Asset Management LLC boosting holdings substantially in the first quarter.
• CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 1,785,165 shares of Arista Networks, decreasing her ownership by nearly 24%, amid reports showing strong quarterly earnings outpacing analyst expectations.

AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 885.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,627 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 7,752 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $668,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 1.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 97,856,933 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $7,581,955,000 after acquiring an additional 1,771,982 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 277.5% in the fourth quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,016,207,000 after acquiring an additional 20,059,303 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Arista Networks in the first quarter valued at approximately $933,626,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 330.8% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 11,292,585 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,248,169,000 after acquiring an additional 8,671,235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 3.7% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,315,493 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $799,244,000 after buying an additional 372,677 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ANET shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. KGI Securities lowered Arista Networks to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Erste Group Bank raised Arista Networks from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Citigroup boosted their price target on Arista Networks from $123.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Arista Networks from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $138.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 1,785,165 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.22, for a total transaction of $243,175,176.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,698,074 shares of the company's stock, valued at $776,191,640.28. This represents a 23.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold 5,823,574 shares of company stock worth $721,676,802 over the last quarter. 3.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Arista Networks Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:ANET opened at $133.06 on Tuesday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $59.43 and a twelve month high of $141.99. The stock's 50 day moving average is $114.63 and its 200-day moving average is $96.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $167.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.33, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.37.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.08. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 40.90%.The company had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. Arista Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Arista Networks Company Profile

Arista Networks, Inc engages in the development, marketing, and sale of data-driven, client to cloud networking solutions for data center, campus, and routing environments in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. Its cloud networking solutions consist of Extensible Operating System (EOS), a publish-subscribe state-sharing networking operating system offered in combination with a set of network applications.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ANET? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.