First Financial Bank Trust Division Makes New $4.88 Million Investment in Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• First Financial Bank Trust Division bought 23,960 Arista Networks shares worth approximately $4.88 million in the third quarter. Institutional investors collectively own 82.47% of the company.
• Arista insiders sold 3.38 million shares worth about $675.9 million over the past three months, including significant sales by major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim and CEO Jayshree Ullal under pre-arranged trading plans.
• Analysts maintain a bullish outlook, with the stock carrying an average “Buy” rating and a $231.70 price target. Arista also exceeded quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, reporting 37.7% year-over-year revenue growth.

First Financial Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 23,960 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $4,878,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ANET. Main Street Group LTD bought a new position in Arista Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Sankala Group LLC bought a new stake in Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. ABS Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 184.9% during the first quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC now owns 245 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 300,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.30, for a total value of $60,990,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 181,143,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $36,826,381,658.40. This trade represents a 0.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 767,029 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.22, for a total transaction of $154,341,575.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 16,387,981 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,297,589,536.82. This trade represents a 4.47% 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 3,382,316 shares of company stock worth $675,904,720. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on ANET shares. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $289.00 target price (up from $195.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Arista Networks from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $250.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, August 31st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $220.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-one have issued a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $231.70.

Arista Networks Trading Up 0.3%

ANET stock traded up $0.69 during trading on Thursday, reaching $204.28. The stock had a trading volume of 4,105,949 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,000,139. The firm has a market cap of $257.64 billion, a PE ratio of 64.44, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.62. The stock's 50 day moving average is $192.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $168.53. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.52 and a 52 week high of $214.89.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.73 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue 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, research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.74 EPS for the current year.

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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