Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET Shares Acquired by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 3.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,720,642 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 144,177 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.37% of Arista Networks worth $579,598,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Arista Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,558,563,000. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 3,182.7% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 4,012,373 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $525,741,000 after acquiring an additional 3,890,146 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Arista Networks by 59.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,878,360 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,032,302,000 after purchasing an additional 2,934,098 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its position in Arista Networks by 86.0% during the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,240,951 shares of the technology company's stock worth $520,168,000 after purchasing an additional 1,960,829 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $198,285,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of Arista Networks stock opened at $169.47 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.40 billion, a PE ratio of 58.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.60. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $166.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $149.32. Arista Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.52 and a twelve month high of $189.82.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The technology company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.10% and a net margin of 38.32%.The firm had revenue of $2.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.65 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 35.1% on a year-over-year basis. Arista Networks has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.880 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Key Headlines Impacting Arista Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive ahead of Arista’s quarterly report, expected in early August. Positive earnings-estimate revisions, a favorable Zacks Rank and expectations for an earnings beat have increased optimism about the company’s outlook. Arista Networks on rising earnings optimism
• Positive Sentiment: Strong results from optical, cloud-connectivity and AI-exposed peers—including Corning, Sanmina and Celestica—provide favorable evidence of continued data-center and AI infrastructure spending, a key demand driver for Arista’s networking products. Corning beats second-quarter estimates
• Neutral Sentiment: A comparison with Advanced Micro Devices suggests Arista may offer stronger profitability and a more attractive relative valuation, although the article still characterizes Arista as expensive and highlights its reliance on a concentrated customer base as an important risk. AMD versus Arista Networks comparison
• Neutral Sentiment: Arista recently underperformed some technology competitors, indicating that investors may be taking a more selective approach despite the broader AI infrastructure theme. Arista Networks underperforms competitors
• Negative Sentiment: Director Kenneth Duda disclosed two sales totaling 43,333 shares at approximately $170.51 per share. Both transactions were executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, reducing the immediate signal of discretionary selling, but the sales can still weigh on sentiment.
• Negative Sentiment: With Arista trading at a high earnings multiple, investors may demand another strong earnings beat and upbeat guidance. Any disappointment or evidence of customer-concentration risk could prompt profit-taking after the stock’s recent gains.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.08, for a total transaction of $4,482,560.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,817,678.08. This trade represents a 71.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 260,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.57, for a total value of $43,048,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 182,543,048 shares in the company, valued at $30,223,652,457.36. This trade represents a 0.14% 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 2,308,316 shares of company stock worth $383,563,775. 2.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ANET shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded Arista Networks from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Wolfe Research reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $175.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $187.00 price objective (up from $177.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective (up from $178.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $189.74.

Arista Networks Company 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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