Donoghue Forlines LLC Cuts Position in Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• Donoghue Forlines LLC sharply reduced its Arista Networks stake by 85.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 12,377 shares and leaving it with 2,062 shares valued at about $270,000.
• Despite that sale, institutional ownership remains high, with hedge funds and other institutional investors holding 82.47% of Arista’s stock, and several firms recently added modestly to their positions.
• Arista’s recent operating results were strong, as the company reported EPS of $0.87 on $2.71 billion in revenue, both above estimates, while analysts continue to lean bullish with a consensus Buy rating and an average price target of $181.84.

Donoghue Forlines LLC lessened its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 85.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,062 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 12,377 shares during the quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $270,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 18,509 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,697,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 16,085 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,133,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 6,311 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $827,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 8,364 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,219,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 2,429 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $318,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Arista Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reuters-based 13-F filings show institutional investors added to or started positions in major AI infrastructure names, including Arista Networks, signaling continued professional buying interest in the company’s long-term AI networking story. Institutional investors boosted holdings of AI infrastructure plays during first quarter
• Positive Sentiment: Raymond James upgraded Arista to Outperform, citing share gains in AI-backend and campus networking, plus demand from major customers such as Meta Platforms and Microsoft. Arista upgraded to outperform as it gains share in AI-backend and campus: Raymond James
• Positive Sentiment: Truist said Arista’s post-earnings pullback may be an attractive buying opportunity, keeping the name on bullish watch lists as investors weigh strong underlying demand against near-term volatility. Truist Views Arista Networks (ANET)’s Post-Q1 Sell-Off As An Attractive Buying Opportunity
• Neutral Sentiment: Several recent articles compare Arista with other AI-related stocks and question whether the rally has already priced in much of the upside, which may be adding to investor caution after a strong multi-year run. Is It Too Late To Consider Arista Networks (ANET) After Strong Multi Year Share Gains?
• Neutral Sentiment: Other coverage notes Arista’s AI demand remains strong, but supply-chain constraints and margin pressure could limit near-term upside even as revenue guidance stays solid. AI-Fueled Demand Amid Supply Strains Might Change The Case For Investing In Arista Networks (ANET)
• Negative Sentiment: One analyst-style comparison argued Jabil looks stronger than Arista on valuation and AI data-center exposure, reflecting some relative-value skepticism toward ANET. Arista vs. Jabil: Which AI-Driven Tech Stock Looks Stronger Now?

Arista Networks Price Performance

Arista Networks stock opened at $141.98 on Friday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $83.86 and a 12-month high of $179.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $178.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.67. The firm's 50-day moving average is $144.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $137.64.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The technology company reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.32% and a return on equity of 30.10%. The company had revenue of $2.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.62 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.65 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 35.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Arista Networks has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.880 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.26 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, CFO Chantelle Yvette Breithaupt sold 8,890 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.02, for a total transaction of $1,378,127.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 60,734 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,414,984.68. This trade represents a 12.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.40, for a total transaction of $1,403,200.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 208,333 shares in the company, valued at $36,541,608.20. This represents a 3.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 1,502,729 shares of company stock worth $246,707,719 over the last three months. Company insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on ANET shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Arista Networks from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $181.84.

About Arista Networks

Arista Networks, Inc is a technology company that designs and sells cloud networking solutions for large-scale data centers and enterprise environments. The company is best known for its high-performance switching and routing platforms, which are used to build scalable, low-latency networks for cloud service providers, internet companies, financial services, telecommunications, and enterprise IT. Arista's offerings emphasize programmability, automation and telemetry to support modern, software-driven network architectures.

Central to Arista's product portfolio is its Extensible Operating System (EOS), a modular network operating system that provides consistent programmability, stateful control and advanced visibility across the company's hardware platforms.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ANET? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.