Novem Group Raises Stock Holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• Novem Group boosted its stake in Arista by 246.2% in Q4, adding 6,933 shares to hold 9,749 shares valued at about $1.277M.
• Significant insider selling occurred: CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 350,000 shares for roughly $55.8M under a Rule 10b5‑1 plan, and insiders sold a total of 616,729 shares (~$94M) in the last quarter.
• Analysts are broadly bullish on ANET, with a consensus "Buy" rating and an average price target of $177.83, while some firms (e.g., JPMorgan) have raised targets as high as $200.

Novem Group increased its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 246.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,749 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 6,933 shares during the quarter. Novem Group's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $1,277,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ANET. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 56.7% in the third quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 199 shares of the technology company's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the third quarter worth $29,000. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 141.3% in the third quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 222 shares of the technology company's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 350,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.32, for a total transaction of $55,762,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 5,333,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $849,686,539.24. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.95, for a total transaction of $1,007,600.00. Following the sale, the director owned 216,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,247,141.35. This trade represents a 3.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 616,729 shares of company stock worth $93,969,394. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ANET has been the topic of several analyst reports. KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $178.00 target price (up from $170.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Susquehanna upgraded shares of Arista Networks to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $184.00 price target (up from $183.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $177.83.

Arista Networks Stock Up 1.6%

NYSE:ANET opened at $166.87 on Tuesday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $66.59 and a twelve month high of $167.90. The stock has a market cap 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. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $136.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.40.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The technology company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.07. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.99% and a return on equity of 30.37%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 28.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

More Arista Networks News

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.

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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