American Century Companies Inc. Boosts Holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Arista Networks by 1.2%, acquiring an additional 28,937 shares in the first quarter, resulting in a total ownership of over 2.5 million shares valued at approximately $196 million.
• Institutional investors hold 82.47% of Arista Networks' shares, with significant increases noted from multiple investors, including Quarry LP and Dunhill Financial LLC, which raised their stakes by 381.5% and 415.7%, respectively.
• CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 192,979 shares for over $26 million, reducing ownership by 3.32%, while insiders collectively sold nearly 5.8 million shares worth approximately $714 million over the last quarter.

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 1.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,535,505 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 28,937 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.20% of Arista Networks worth $196,451,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Clearstead Trust LLC grew its position in Arista Networks by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 2,455 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $190,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 1.5% in the first quarter. Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC now owns 7,960 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $617,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Optimum Investment Advisors lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 31.3% in the first quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 525 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. PFG Advisors lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 2.7% in the first quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 5,061 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $392,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 9.4% in the first quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,624 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $126,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 1,785,165 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.22, for a total value of $243,175,176.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 5,698,074 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $776,191,640.28. The trade was a 23.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 5,767,742 shares of company stock valued at $714,048,068. Insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ANET has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised their target price on Arista Networks from $123.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $138.07.

Arista Networks Trading Down 4.1%

Shares of NYSE:ANET traded down $5.66 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $132.38. 6,857,473 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,535,771. The stock has a market cap of $166.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.20, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.37. Arista Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $59.43 and a twelve month high of $141.99. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $110.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $96.15.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 40.90%.The business had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. The business's revenue was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to buy 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.