Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Grows Stock Position in Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• Ferguson Wellman Capital Management increased its Arista Networks stake by 2,827.9% in the third quarter, bringing its holdings to 52,381 shares valued at approximately $10.7 million. Institutional investors collectively own 82.47% of the company.
• Arista reported strong quarterly results, with earnings of $1.02 per share and revenue of $3.04 billion, surpassing estimates and representing 37.7% year-over-year revenue growth.
• Analysts remain bullish, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $231.70, although insiders sold 3.38 million shares worth about $675.9 million over the past three months.

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 2,827.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,381 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 50,592 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $10,664,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. ABS Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC purchased a new stake in Arista Networks in the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in Arista Networks in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 61.9% in the second quarter. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC now owns 183 shares of the technology company's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sankala Group LLC bought a new position in Arista Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ANET traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $207.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,549,370 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,945,253. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.52 and a 12 month high of $214.89. The stock has a market cap of $261.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.60. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $193.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $169.54.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.13. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.65% and a net margin of 38.37%.The business had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.73 EPS. The business's revenue was up 37.7% on a year-over-year basis. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.060-1.080 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.74 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arista Networks news, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 300,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.95, for a total value of $59,685,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 180,543,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,919,039,399.60. This represents a 0.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Chantelle Breithaupt sold 612 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.77, for a total transaction of $119,811.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 69,921 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,688,434.17. This represents a 0.87% 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 a total of 3,382,316 shares of company stock valued at $675,904,720 over the last three months. Insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on ANET shares. Bank of America reissued a "buy" rating and set a $240.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $210.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Truist Financial increased their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group set a $250.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $231.70.

Arista Networks Company Profile

Arista Networks, Inc develops and sells cloud networking solutions for data centers, campus environments and high-performance computing applications. Its products include Ethernet switches, routers, wireless access points and related networking equipment designed to support cloud computing, artificial intelligence, enterprise and service-provider networks.

The company's software portfolio includes Arista EOS, its network operating system, and CloudVision, a platform that helps customers manage, automate and monitor network infrastructure.

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