Meridian Wealth Management LLC Has $6.21 Million Position in Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• Meridian Wealth Management increased its Arista Networks stake by 19.7% in the fourth quarter, bringing its holdings to 47,392 shares worth about $6.21 million.
• Wall Street remains broadly bullish on ANET, with multiple analysts raising price targets; the stock currently carries an average “Buy” rating and an average price target of $182.83.
• Arista reported strong quarterly results, beating earnings and revenue estimates with 35.1% revenue growth year over year, even as the stock was down 3.7% in trading. Insider selling was also notable, including large sales by Kenneth Duda and CEO Jayshree Ullal.

Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 19.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,392 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,792 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $6,210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of 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 worth $2,697,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its position in Arista Networks by 0.4% in 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 buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. increased its position in Arista Networks by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 6,311 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $827,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. increased its position in Arista Networks by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 8,364 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,219,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 2,429 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $318,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ANET has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Arista Networks from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $195.00 price objective (up from $184.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Truist Financial set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $176.00 to $173.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $182.83.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total transaction of $4,292,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,740,600.64. This trade represents a 71.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 428,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.44, for a total value of $75,944,320.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 5,209,207 shares in the company, valued at $924,321,690.08. This trade represents a 7.59% 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,502,729 shares of company stock worth $246,707,719. Insiders own 3.54% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Stock Down 3.7%

ANET stock opened at $136.51 on Tuesday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $83.86 and a twelve month high of $179.80. The stock's 50 day moving average is $143.55 and its 200-day moving average is $137.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $171.90 billion, a PE ratio of 46.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.67.

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 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 business had revenue of $2.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share. 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. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.18 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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