Meritage Portfolio Management Sells 32,205 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• Meritage Portfolio Management reduced its stake in Arista by 33.0% in Q4, selling 32,205 shares and leaving the fund with 65,524 shares valued at $8.586 million.
• Significant insider selling has occurred recently: CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 350,000 shares (~$55.8M) under a Rule 10b5-1 plan, and insiders have sold a total of 616,729 shares (~$93.97M) in the last 90 days.
• Arista reported a strong quarter—EPS $0.82 vs. $0.75 expected and revenue $2.49B vs. $2.38B (revenue up 28.9%)—and the stock carries a consensus "Buy" rating with an average price target of $177.83.

Meritage Portfolio Management lessened its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 33.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65,524 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 32,205 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $8,586,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Novem Group increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 246.2% in the fourth quarter. Novem Group now owns 9,749 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,277,000 after purchasing an additional 6,933 shares during the last quarter. Warm Springs Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,686,000. Autumn Glory Partners LLC bought a new stake in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $262,000. 55 North Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $227,000. Finally, Smith Salley Wealth Management increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 194,344 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $25,465,000 after purchasing an additional 1,550 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of Arista Networks stock opened at $166.87 on Tuesday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $66.59 and a 1 year high of $167.90. The business has a 50-day moving average of $136.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $136.40. The company has a market capitalization of $210.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.48.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The technology company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.38 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.37% and a net margin of 38.99%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 28.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on ANET. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Arista Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $165.00 to $180.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Arista Networks from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Arista Networks from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $188.00 price target (up from $165.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, February 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $177.83.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In related news, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.44, for a total transaction of $4,558,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,848,301.44. This trade represents a 71.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 350,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.32, for a total value of $55,762,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 5,333,207 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $849,686,539.24. The trade was a 6.16% 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 have sold a total of 616,729 shares of company stock valued at $93,969,394 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.54% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Arista Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Evercore added Arista to a "tactical outperform" list ahead of Q1, signalling analyst confidence in a beat‑and‑raise setup that can lift sentiment into earnings. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage positions Arista as a top beneficiary of AI data‑center networking demand — reinforcing the growth story that justifies premium multiples and investor interest in ANET as an AI play. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple writeups highlight Arista’s recent record of earnings beats and the setup for another potential surprise, which is a common near‑term catalyst for the stock. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Retail/trending coverage and “is it a buy?” pieces are drawing attention and volume; helpful for liquidity but less definitive on fundamentals. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 350,000 shares (~$55.8M) under a pre‑arranged Rule 10b5‑1 plan (avg $159.32). Large dollar value can weigh on sentiment even though the trade was planned. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Smaller insider sales have been reported as well; while tiny vs market cap they add incremental caution for some investors. Read More.

About Arista Networks

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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