J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Cuts Holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. reduced its Arista Networks stake by 20.6% in the fourth quarter, selling 8,392 shares and leaving it with 32,429 shares valued at about $4.25 million.
• Institutional ownership in Arista remains heavy, with large holders like Vanguard, State Street, Geode, and Norges Bank adding or maintaining positions; overall, 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutions.
• Arista posted strong quarterly results, beating expectations with $0.87 EPS on $2.71 billion in revenue, while analysts remain broadly positive with a consensus Buy rating and a target price of $185.72.

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. cut its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 20.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 32,429 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 8,392 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $4,249,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 101,189,629 shares of the technology company's stock worth $13,258,877,000 after purchasing an additional 1,188,799 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 46,342,551 shares of the technology company's stock worth $6,752,573,000 after purchasing an additional 245,976 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,447,629 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,455,095,000 after purchasing an additional 477,625 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $1,558,563,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 1.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,094,255 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,470,834,000 after purchasing an additional 181,813 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ANET shares. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Susquehanna upgraded shares of Arista Networks to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $176.00 to $173.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research cut shares of Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $185.72.

Arista Networks Stock Down 7.1%

ANET opened at $154.23 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $194.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.82, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.61. Arista Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $85.58 and a twelve month high of $179.80. The company's 50-day moving average price is $150.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $138.82.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The technology company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.62 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.32% and a return on equity of 30.10%. Arista Networks's revenue was up 35.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. Arista Networks has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.880 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Key Headlines Impacting Arista Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Arista’s latest bullish commentary highlighted surging AI networking demand, market leadership, and pricing power, with management/model assumptions pointing to a larger total addressable market and strong revenue growth through 2028. Arista Networks: TAM Expansion And Surging AI Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent pieces emphasized that Arista remains a favorite among growth investors because of AI infrastructure spending, high gross margins, and expectations for continued earnings expansion. US High Growth Tech Stocks with Promising Potential
• Positive Sentiment: Investor interest has stayed elevated, with multiple articles noting ANET’s strong post-earnings performance and continued attention from traders and analysts. Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET) is Attracting Investor Attention: Here is What You Should Know
• Neutral Sentiment: Some coverage focused on valuation debate after Arista’s strong rally, suggesting investors are weighing rich expectations against its growth profile. Is It Too Late To Consider Arista Networks (ANET) After Its Strong 1-Year Rally?
• Negative Sentiment: A director sold 8,000 shares under a pre-arranged trading plan, which can create mild sentiment pressure even though the sale was not viewed as a surprise. Arista Networks NYSE: ANET Director Charles Giancarlo Sells 8,000 Shares

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 220,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.86, for a total transaction of $34,509,200.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 182,803,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,674,486,109.28. This represents a 0.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 13,809 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.04, for a total transaction of $2,140,947.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 9,917 shares in the company, valued at $1,537,531.68. The trade was a 58.20% 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 a total of 1,943,142 shares of company stock worth $314,941,943 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

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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