Arizona State Retirement System Sells 8,686 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• Arizona State Retirement System trimmed its Arista stake by 2.8%, selling 8,686 shares and ending the quarter with 303,115 shares worth about $39.72 million.
• Significant insider selling has occurred recently — CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 350,000 shares (~$55.8M) and insiders disposed of roughly 1,074,729 shares (~$170.5M) over the past 90 days, adding near‑term selling pressure.
• Arista beat quarterly expectations (EPS $0.82 vs. $0.75; revenue $2.49B, +28.9%), and analysts remain bullish on its AI datacenter opportunity with a consensus "Buy" rating and an average price target near $177.83.

Arizona State Retirement System decreased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 303,115 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 8,686 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $39,717,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 2,829.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,721,156 shares of the technology company's stock worth $833,630,000 after purchasing an additional 5,525,828 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 82.5% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 9,587,115 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,396,939,000 after purchasing an additional 4,332,659 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 3,182.7% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 4,012,373 shares of the technology company's stock worth $525,741,000 after purchasing an additional 3,890,146 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 100,000,830 shares of the technology company's stock worth $14,571,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 28.6% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 3,946,087 shares of the technology company's stock worth $574,984,000 after purchasing an additional 878,023 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Trading Down 2.9%

Arista Networks stock opened at $172.55 on Friday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $71.56 and a 1-year high of $178.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $217.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.48. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $138.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $137.13.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The technology company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.07. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.99% and a return on equity of 30.37%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.38 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 28.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.17 EPS for the current year.

Key Arista Networks News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and media say Arista stands to benefit from Google’s new "Virgo" AI datacenter architecture, a narrative that helped drive a recent record high and investor excitement about ANET’s AI networking opportunity. Arista poised to benefit from Google’s Virgo
• Positive Sentiment: Reports say Arista has materially raised its AI‑networking market assumptions (analyst coverage notes the company effectively doubled its AI networking target), expanding the TAM and underpinning higher forward multiples. Arista Doubles AI Networking Target
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/buy‑side commentary (Seeking Alpha and others) argue heavy capex demand from AI customers justifies ANET’s premium valuation; Q1 earnings (May 5) is flagged as a likely catalyst for further upgrades if management confirms strong demand. Arista: Heavy CapEx Demand Keeps Justifying This Stock's Premium
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional inflows and retail momentum coverage (Jim Cramer, sector pieces) have increased buying interest and liquidity, supporting near‑term momentum into earnings. See How Institutions Boost Arista Networks
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple bullish writeups and investor notes summarize a buy thesis tied to market share in high‑performance switching and AI datacenter demand; useful background but reflect already elevated expectations. Is Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET) A Good Stock To Buy Now?
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst price‑target raises and "buy"/"overweight" consensus support momentum but also raise the bar for future earnings surprises. MarketBeat Arista coverage and analyst targets
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider selling by CEO Jayshree Ullal (multiple recent sales totaling tens of millions of dollars under pre‑arranged 10b5‑1 plans) is creating near‑term selling pressure and negative headlines, even if sales are scheduled. Jayshree Ullal Sells 350,000 Shares
• Negative Sentiment: Additional insider sales (EVP Kenneth Duda sold multiple lots) add to perception of founder/management profit‑taking and can amplify short‑term downside into earnings. Kenneth Duda SEC filing

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.44, for a total transaction of $4,558,080.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,848,301.44. This trade represents a 71.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 350,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.32, for a total value of $55,762,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 5,333,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $849,686,539.24. This trade represents a 6.16% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,074,729 shares of company stock worth $170,483,639. Company insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ANET. KeyCorp reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $178.00 price objective (up from $170.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Arista Networks from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Susquehanna raised shares of Arista Networks to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $177.83.

Arista Networks 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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