Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 149,619 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group cut its Arista Networks stake by 9.8% in the second quarter, selling 149,619 shares and retaining 1.38 million shares valued at approximately $233.8 million. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company.
• Arista reported a strong quarter, with revenue up 37.7% year over year to $3.04 billion and EPS of $1.02, exceeding the $0.89 consensus estimate. Analysts maintain a “Buy” consensus with an average price target of $226.05.
• Insiders sold substantial amounts of stock under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, including CEO Jayshree Ullal’s $154.3 million sale and major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim’s $61.0 million sale. Despite strong AI-related growth prospects, the stock’s elevated valuation and insider selling may weigh on sentiment.

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 9.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,376,515 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 149,619 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.11% of Arista Networks worth $233,842,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Arista Networks by 321.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,806 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $863,000 after purchasing an additional 5,955 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $202,000. Bison Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $251,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 48.4% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 10,723 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,097,000 after buying an additional 3,496 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 31.3% in the second quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 4,193 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $429,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 767,029 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.22, for a total transaction of $154,341,575.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 16,387,981 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,297,589,536.82. This represents a 4.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 300,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.30, for a total transaction of $60,990,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 181,143,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $36,826,381,658.40. The trade was a 0.17% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 4,393,168 shares of company stock worth $806,762,269. Company insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ANET shares. Bank of America reissued a "buy" rating and set a $240.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Arista Networks to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $289.00 target price (up from $195.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $175.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $226.05.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Arista Networks stock opened at $198.91 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $250.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $174.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $154.72. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.52 and a 52-week high of $214.89.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.13. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.37% and a return on equity of 30.65%. The company had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.73 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 37.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.060-1.080 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

More Arista Networks News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Arista remains a key beneficiary of expanding artificial-intelligence infrastructure spending. A comparison with Celestica highlights both companies’ growing roles in AI networking, computing and data-center buildouts. Arista’s latest quarter also showed strong momentum, with revenue rising 37.7% year over year and earnings exceeding analyst expectations. CLS vs. ANET: Which AI Stock Offers the Better Growth Opportunity?
• Positive Sentiment: CNBC commentator Jim Cramer continues to favor Arista and has described the company and CEO Jayshree Ullal as difficult competitors to bet against. The endorsement reinforces Arista’s reputation as a leading AI-networking investment, although it is sentiment-driven rather than a new fundamental catalyst. Jim Cramer Said Arista Networks, Inc. and Snowflake Inc. Were Worth It
• Neutral Sentiment: An options strategy discussed for ANET would generate income while capping upside at a price above the current level. The strategy reflects elevated investor interest and volatility but does not change Arista’s business outlook. Get Paid 18% a Year To Cap Your ANET Stock At 21% Higher
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 573,509 shares worth approximately $119.4 million, reducing her direct ownership by 95.82% to 25,000 shares. The transaction was conducted under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, which reduces its significance as a discretionary bearish signal, but the size of the sale can still weigh on sentiment. SEC insider-trading filing
• Negative Sentiment: A valuation analysis argues that Arista’s shares are priced for peak profitability. With the stock trading at a historically elevated multiple and margins near the upper end of their range, investors may be concerned that future upside requires continued exceptional growth and profitability. Arista Networks Stock Is Priced For Its Peak Margin

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source