Baird Financial Group Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in Arista Networks by 29.8%, selling 188,930 shares and holding 445,952 shares worth $34.55 million.
• CEO Jayshree Ullal sold over 1.78 million shares, decreasing her ownership by 23.86%, resulting in remaining shares valued at approximately $776 million.
• Arista Networks reported better-than-expected earnings of $0.73 per share, exceeding analyst estimates, with quarterly revenue rising by 30.4% year-over-year.

Baird Financial Group Inc. cut its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 29.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 445,952 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 188,930 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $34,552,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ANET. Vident Advisory LLC raised its position in Arista Networks by 61.3% in the first quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 228,537 shares of the technology company's stock worth $17,707,000 after acquiring an additional 86,855 shares during the period. Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 8,578 shares of the technology company's stock worth $665,000 after buying an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 66.1% in the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,085,512 shares of the technology company's stock worth $84,108,000 after buying an additional 432,074 shares in the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $6,310,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 24.8% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,833,041 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $142,024,000 after buying an additional 363,909 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arista Networks Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of Arista Networks stock traded up $1.36 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $137.23. 6,777,910 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,346,715. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $59.43 and a 1 year high of $141.99. The company has a market capitalization of $172.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.50. The business has a fifty day moving average of $120.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $97.84.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.08. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.90% and a return on equity of 31.05%. The business 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 earnings per share. The company'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, research analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Arista Networks declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 6th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on ANET. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Arista Networks from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Wedbush assumed coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Finally, Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $151.00 target price (up from $119.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $138.79.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 24,040 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.77, for a total value of $3,191,790.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 9,917 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,316,680.09. This represents a 70.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.51, for a total transaction of $4,095,300.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,771,353.76. This trade represents a 69.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 5,839,614 shares of company stock valued at $724,163,153. 3.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.