Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Boosts Stake in Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in Arista Networks by 337.2% in Q1, holding 556,739 shares worth approximately $43.1 million.
• Insider CEO Jayshree Ullal sold over 1.7 million shares for about $243 million, resulting in a significant decrease in her ownership stake by nearly 24%.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Arista Networks, with JPMorgan increasing its target from $130 to $150, indicating a positive outlook for the company's stock.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 337.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 556,739 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 429,402 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.'s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $43,136,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 381.5% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 260 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 415.7% in the fourth quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 263 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC acquired a new stake in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. HighMark Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 179.7% in the first quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 358 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Paces Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 214.5% in the fourth quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 368 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 1,785,165 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.22, for a total transaction of $243,175,176.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,698,074 shares in the company, valued at approximately $776,191,640.28. This represents a 23.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 5,823,574 shares of company stock valued at $721,676,802 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on ANET shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Arista Networks from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. KGI Securities lowered Arista Networks to a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Arista Networks from $106.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Arista Networks from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $138.07.

Arista Networks Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:ANET opened at $133.1660 on Monday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $59.43 and a 52-week high of $141.99. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $113.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $96.67. The company has a market capitalization of $167.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.37.

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

Arista Networks declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's management 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.

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