Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Grows Stake in Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group increased its stake in Arista Networks by 59.8% in the fourth quarter, ending with 17,621 shares worth about $2.31 million.
• Several other institutional investors also added to their positions, and 82.47% of Arista Networks’ stock is now held by hedge funds and other institutions.
• Arista Networks posted better-than-expected Q1 results, with EPS of $0.87 and revenue of $2.71 billion, while analysts remain broadly bullish with an average rating of “Buy” and a target price of $181.84.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 59.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,621 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,591 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $2,309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,716 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,666,000 after purchasing an additional 2,048 shares in the last quarter. Americana Partners LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks by 37.9% in the 4th quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 14,491 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,899,000 after purchasing an additional 3,980 shares in the last quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $475,000. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP increased its stake in Arista Networks by 2,627.8% in the 4th quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP now owns 31,806 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $4,168,000 after purchasing an additional 30,640 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks by 119.9% in the 4th quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,559 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $4,266,000 after purchasing an additional 17,754 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 owned 208,333 shares in the company, valued at $36,541,608.20. This trade represents a 3.70% 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, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 422 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.44, for a total value of $61,797.68. Following the sale, the director owned 10,078 shares in the company, valued at $1,475,822.32. This trade represents a 4.02% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,501,885 shares of company stock valued at $246,477,400. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Arista Networks from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Arista Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, February 13th. KeyCorp reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $178.00 target price (up from $170.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Arista Networks from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $181.84.

Arista Networks Stock Up 2.7%

ANET stock opened at $158.21 on Wednesday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $83.86 and a 52-week high of $179.80. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $146.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $137.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $199.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.67.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 30.10% and a net margin of 38.32%.The business had revenue of $2.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 35.1% on a year-over-year basis. Arista Networks has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.880 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks Profile

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.

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