Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET Shares Sold by Thornburg Investment Management Inc.

Key Points

• Thornburg Investment Management cut its Arista Networks stake by 31.2% in the second quarter, selling 52,446 shares and retaining 115,902 shares valued at $19.7 million. Institutional investors still own 82.47% of ANET.
• Arista reported strong quarterly results, with revenue up 37.7% year over year to $3.04 billion and EPS of $1.02 versus the $0.89 consensus estimate. Analysts maintain a consensus “Buy” rating with an average price target of $226.05.
• Key risks include Arista’s high valuation, component-supply constraints and insider selling. Shares trade at roughly 61.7 times earnings, while executives and major shareholders sold substantial amounts of stock under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans.

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 31.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 115,902 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 52,446 shares during the period. Thornburg Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $19,689,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ANET. Main Street Group LTD acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Sankala Group LLC acquired a new position in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Prosperity Bancshares Inc purchased a new stake in Arista Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. ABS Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Arista Networks during the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks by 184.9% during the first quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC now owns 245 shares of the technology company's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Arista Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Arista Networks continues to benefit from growing AI data-center investment. Demand for high-speed, scalable networking equipment from cloud providers and enterprises supports the company’s long-term growth outlook. 3 Stocks That Are No-Brainer Buys in the Second Half of 2026
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street’s consensus remains bullish, with an average “Buy” recommendation and several analysts recently raising price targets, including targets of $240, $250 and $280. However, brokerage ratings can be optimistic and may already reflect substantial AI-related growth expectations. Is It Worth Investing in Arista Networks Based on Wall Street’s Bullish Views?
• Neutral Sentiment: Arista’s latest results were strong: quarterly revenue rose 37.7% year over year to $3.04 billion, exceeding expectations, while EPS of $1.02 topped the $0.89 consensus. Third-quarter EPS guidance of $1.06–$1.08 provides continued support, but investors are focused on whether growth can meet the high valuation.
• Negative Sentiment: Component availability is becoming a key investment risk. A potential earnings-multiple contraction over the next two years depends less on customer demand than on whether Arista can obtain the parts needed to fulfill AI-networking orders on time. Delays could pressure revenue timing and margins. Arista’s Price Assumes the Parts Arrive on Time
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 13,809 shares for approximately $2.65 million, reducing her direct ownership by 58.2%. The sale was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, making it a weaker bearish signal, but it may still contribute to profit-taking concerns. SEC insider sale filing
• Negative Sentiment: Political resistance to new AI data centers could delay or restrict projects, potentially slowing infrastructure spending by Arista’s major cloud customers. Arista Networks Faces New Political Risk

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ANET shares. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Arista Networks from $175.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Arista Networks to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Wolfe Research restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $175.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Arista Networks from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $226.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 300,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.30, for a total value of $60,990,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 181,143,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,826,381,658.40. The trade was a 0.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 767,029 shares of the company'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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 16,387,981 shares in the company, valued at $3,297,589,536.82. This represents a 4.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,950,082 shares of company stock worth $741,060,096. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of ANET stock opened at $195.59 on Friday. The company's fifty day moving average price is $180.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $158.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $246.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.60. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.52 and a 12 month high of $214.89.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.73 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 37.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.060-1.080 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

About Arista Networks

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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