Ascent Group LLC Acquires 13,856 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• Ascent Group LLC has increased its holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. by 10.7%, acquiring 13,856 shares during Q2, bringing its total holdings to 143,850 shares valued at approximately $14.7 million.
• Equities analysts are optimistic about Arista Networks, with some recent ratings upgrades including a price target increase from $125 to $140 and multiple analysts rating the stock as a "Buy."
• Insider selling activity was notable, with key executives offloading 38,000 shares recently, representing significant reductions in their shareholdings.

Ascent Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 10.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 143,850 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 13,856 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $14,717,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. HighMark Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 179.7% in the 1st quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 358 shares of the technology company's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Cloud Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Arista Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Saudi Central Bank bought a new position in Arista Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 45.8% in the 1st quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 455 shares of the technology company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 51.3% in the 1st quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 454 shares of the technology company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a "hold" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $172.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $151.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $162.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.49, for a total transaction of $1,179,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 41,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,162,722.16. This represents a 16.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kenneth Duda sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.79, for a total transaction of $4,253,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,839,867.04. This represents a 69.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 6,678,904 shares of company stock valued at $894,021,161 in the last quarter. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Arista Networks Stock Up 0.7%

NYSE ANET opened at $145.51 on Friday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $59.43 and a 52 week high of $156.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.23, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $137.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $106.35.

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

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.

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