Candriam S.C.A. Boosts Stock Holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• Candriam S.C.A. increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 2.4% during Q1, acquiring 3,881 additional shares, bringing its total ownership to 162,424 shares valued at approximately $12.6 million.
• CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 192,979 shares of Arista Networks for nearly $27 million, reducing her ownership by 3.32%, while other executives also made significant stock sales.
• Analysts have mixed views on Arista Networks, with some raising price targets significantly, while the company's stock has shown strong performance with a recent earnings report exceeding expectations.

Candriam S.C.A. grew its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 2.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 162,424 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 3,881 shares during the quarter. Candriam S.C.A.'s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $12,585,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 277.5% in the fourth quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 27,288,583 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,016,207,000 after purchasing an additional 20,059,303 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Arista Networks in the first quarter worth approximately $933,626,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 330.8% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 11,292,585 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,248,169,000 after purchasing an additional 8,671,235 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 354.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,942,816 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,098,979,000 after purchasing an additional 7,753,991 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 278.4% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,641,326 shares of the technology company's stock worth $955,126,000 after purchasing an additional 6,357,753 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ANET. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $115.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Wedbush assumed coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $138.07.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 30,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.51, for a total transaction of $4,095,300.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,771,353.76. This trade represents a 69.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.01, for a total transaction of $936,080.00. Following the sale, the director owned 57,784 shares in the company, valued at $6,761,305.84. The trade was a 12.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,823,574 shares of company stock worth $721,676,802 in the last three months. Company insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Stock Up 0.9%

ANET traded up $1.1360 during trading on Friday, hitting $133.1660. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,358,652 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,034,801. Arista Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $59.43 and a one year high of $141.99. The firm has a market cap of $167.37 billion, a PE ratio of 52.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.37. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $113.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $96.80.

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

Arista Networks announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to repurchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.