Cravens & Co Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• Cravens & Co Advisors LLC acquired 25,224 Arista Networks shares worth approximately $5.1 million, making ANET its ninth-largest holding at 3.4% of the portfolio. Institutional investors collectively own 82.47% of the stock.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish: ANET has a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $235.45, while several firms recently raised their targets or upgraded the stock.
• Arista reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with revenue up 37.7% year over year and EPS of $1.02 versus the $0.89 estimate. However, recent insider selling—including sales by a director and the CFO—has added some caution around the shares.

Cravens & Co Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 25,224 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $5,135,000. Arista Networks makes up approximately 3.4% of Cravens & Co Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cura Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Cura Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,748 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $297,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 1.4% during the third quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,770 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $817,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 2.8% in the second quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc now owns 2,179 shares of the technology company's stock worth $370,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Intrua Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 2.7% in the first quarter. Intrua Financial LLC now owns 2,307 shares of the technology company's stock worth $283,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Shepherd Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 1.2% in the second quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 5,403 shares of the technology company's stock worth $918,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ANET shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $175.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Arista Networks to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $220.00 price objective (up from $190.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $235.45.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, Director Mark Templeton sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.37, for a total transaction of $1,021,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 48,410 shares in the company, valued at $9,893,551.70. This trade represents a 9.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Chantelle Breithaupt sold 1,224 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.00, for a total transaction of $263,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 68,697 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,769,855. The trade was a 1.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 3,627,449 shares of company stock valued at $740,784,723 over the last quarter. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of ANET opened at $176.84 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $223.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.60. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.52 and a 1 year high of $217.41. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $198.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.34.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.13. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.37% and a return on equity of 30.65%. The firm had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.73 earnings per share. Arista Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 37.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.060-1.080 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Arista Networks to “strong buy,” providing a favorable analyst signal for the stock. Ticker Report article
• Positive Sentiment: A hammer chart pattern suggests ANET may have found technical support after its recent pullback. The article also cites broad upward revisions to Wall Street earnings estimates, which could support a near-term rebound. Zacks bottom-fisher article
• Positive Sentiment: Arista remains exposed to the expanding AI-infrastructure market. Comparisons with Akamai focus on Arista’s stronger growth prospects and profitability, factors that could help justify a premium valuation if AI-related demand remains strong. AKAM versus ANET article
• Neutral Sentiment: After roughly a sevenfold five-year rally, investors are reassessing whether Arista’s cash generation can support its current valuation. The debate reflects elevated expectations rather than a reported deterioration in operations. Yahoo Finance valuation article
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Arista shares fell following insider selling are weighing on sentiment, as investors may interpret sales as a cautionary signal even though insider transactions do not necessarily indicate weaker fundamentals. American Banking News insider-selling article

Arista Networks Profile

Arista Networks, Inc develops and sells cloud networking solutions for data centers, cloud service providers, enterprises and specialized computing environments. The company's products are designed to support high-performance, scalable and automated networks used for cloud computing, artificial intelligence, data analytics and other demanding applications.

Arista's portfolio includes data center and campus switches, routing platforms, wireless networking products, network operating software and network management tools.

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