Ascent Group LLC Has $10.07 Million Holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• Ascent Group LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks by 26.0%, purchasing an additional 26,828 shares in the 1st quarter, bringing its total holdings to 129,994 shares valued at approximately $10 million.
• Insider selling is notable, with SVP Kenneth Duda selling 26,000 shares worth over $3.5 million and CEO Jayshree Ullal selling 24,040 shares for around $3.2 million, reflecting significant decreases in their ownership.
• Analysts are optimistic about Arista Networks, with firms like UBS and Barclays raising their price targets to between $150.00 and $155.00, and the stock currently holds a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

Ascent Group LLC raised its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 26.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 129,994 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 26,828 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $10,072,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Arista Networks by 321.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,806 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $863,000 after purchasing an additional 5,955 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $202,000. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 433.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 10,856 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,200,000 after buying an additional 8,822 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $251,000. Finally, First Manhattan CO. LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $279,000. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $89.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $135.00 target price (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $138.79.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Arista Networks stock traded up $1.89 on Tuesday, hitting $141.90. The stock had a trading volume of 6,106,975 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,134,764. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $124.09 and a 200 day moving average of $99.08. Arista Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $59.43 and a twelve month high of $145.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $178.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.81, a PEG ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 1.50.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 438,764 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.84, for a total value of $63,111,813.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,563,176 shares in the company, valued at $800,207,235.84. This represents a 7.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.01, for a total value of $936,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 57,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,761,305.84. The trade was a 12.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 6,278,378 shares of company stock worth $787,274,967 over the last three months. Company insiders own 3.54% of the company's stock.

About Arista Networks

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.