Moody National Bank Trust Division Grows Position in Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• Moody National Bank Trust Division increased its Arista Networks stake by 746.7% in the second quarter, bringing its holdings to 13,903 shares valued at approximately $2.36 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company.
• Arista reported a strong second quarter, with adjusted EPS of $1.02 and revenue of $3.04 billion, beating analyst estimates and increasing 37.7% year over year. The company also issued above-consensus third-quarter guidance, supported by continued AI and cloud networking demand.
• Despite strong growth and a consensus “Buy” rating, the stock trades at an elevated P/E ratio of about 65, making it sensitive to any slowdown in AI infrastructure spending. Insiders sold approximately $382.2 million of shares during the last quarter, including sales by the CEO and a director under pre-arranged trading plans.

Moody National Bank Trust Division raised its holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 746.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 13,903 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 12,261 shares during the quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $2,362,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ANET. Lighthouse Financial Services Inc. ADV purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $1,549,000. Bensler LLC acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter worth $6,350,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 169,613 shares of the technology company's stock worth $22,224,000 after buying an additional 10,217 shares in the last quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $3,058,000. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Arista Networks by 59.8% in the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 17,621 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,309,000 after acquiring an additional 6,591 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Arista Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 results exceeded estimates: Arista reported adjusted earnings of $1.02 per share versus the $0.89 consensus estimate, while revenue reached $3.04 billion, ahead of the $2.83 billion forecast. Revenue rose 37.7% year over year, marking the company’s first quarter above $3 billion. Arista forecasts upbeat quarterly revenue on AI-driven networking demand
• Positive Sentiment: Upbeat Q3 guidance: Arista forecast third-quarter revenue of approximately $3.3 billion, compared with Wall Street’s $2.9 billion expectation. Its EPS outlook of $1.06–$1.08 also topped the $0.89 consensus estimate, signaling continued momentum. Arista Networks soars on strong Q2 beat and raised outlook
• Positive Sentiment: AI networking demand remains a major growth driver: Customers are expanding AI and cloud infrastructure, supporting demand for Arista’s high-speed networking equipment. The company also highlighted new 1.6-terabit-per-second AI networking systems designed to improve performance and reduce power consumption. Arista Networks Q2 revenue jumps as AI networking demand accelerates
• Neutral Sentiment: Arista’s strong results improve its growth outlook, but the stock’s elevated valuation—approximately 65 times earnings—leaves shares sensitive to any slowdown in AI infrastructure spending or future guidance.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Arista Networks stock opened at $191.21 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $240.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.60. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.52 and a 12-month high of $194.35. The firm's 50-day moving average is $168.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $151.16.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.32% and a return on equity of 30.10%. The company's revenue was up 37.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.060-1.080 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Arista Networks news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.06, for a total value of $1,336,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 192,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,131,150.98. The trade was a 3.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 234,578 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.18, for a total value of $43,908,310.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,134,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $961,020,866.26. This represents a 4.37% decrease in their position. 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 2,300,316 shares of company stock valued at $382,160,575 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $176.00 to $173.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Arista Networks to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $181.00 target price (up from $175.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $192.75.

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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