MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 4,800 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• MetLife Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Arista Networks by 2.7%, holding 176,050 shares valued at approximately $13.64 million after selling 4,800 shares in the first quarter.
• Arista Networks reported $2.20 billion in revenue for the latest quarter, exceeding analyst expectations, with a net margin of 40.90% and earnings per share of $0.73.
• The company also initiated a $1.50 billion share buyback program, indicating confidence in its stock valuation, while institutional investors currently hold 82.47% of its shares.

MetLife Investment Management LLC decreased its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 2.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 176,050 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 4,800 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $13,640,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. DSG Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $5,984,000. Ibex Wealth Advisors increased its stake in Arista Networks by 14.4% during the 1st quarter. Ibex Wealth Advisors now owns 58,093 shares of the technology company's stock worth $4,501,000 after buying an additional 7,329 shares in the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Arista Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $629,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in Arista Networks by 19.8% during the first quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 613,309 shares of the technology company's stock worth $47,519,000 after purchasing an additional 101,162 shares during the period. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $15,227,000. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 1,785,165 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.22, for a total value of $243,175,176.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,698,074 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $776,191,640.28. This trade represents a 23.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 5,847,614 shares of company stock valued at $724,868,593. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ANET has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wolfe Research began coverage on Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $112.00 price objective for the company. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut Arista Networks from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $106.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $138.07.

Arista Networks Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of ANET traded up $2.90 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $136.17. The stock had a trading volume of 8,365,203 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,408,971. Arista Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $59.43 and a fifty-two week high of $141.99. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $116.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.29. The firm has a market cap of $171.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.37.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.90% and a return on equity of 31.05%. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.11 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 6th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

About Arista Networks

Arista Networks, Inc engages in the development, marketing, and sale of data-driven, client to cloud networking solutions for data center, campus, and routing environments in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. Its cloud networking solutions consist of Extensible Operating System (EOS), a publish-subscribe state-sharing networking operating system offered in combination with a set of network applications.