Rice Partnership LLC Cuts Holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• Rice Partnership LLC cut its Arista Networks stake by 39.1% in the fourth quarter, selling 30,399 shares and ending with 47,254 shares worth about $6.19 million.
• Arista continues to draw attention from investors and analysts thanks to strong AI networking and data-center demand, with recent commentary generally staying bullish on the stock’s growth outlook.
• The company reported better-than-expected quarterly results, including EPS of $0.87 on revenue of $2.71 billion, and analysts now have an average price target of $185.72 with a “Buy” rating.

Rice Partnership LLC decreased its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 39.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,254 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 30,399 shares during the period. Rice Partnership LLC's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $6,192,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Ares Financial Consulting LLC purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Arista Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Arista’s shareholder meeting produced no signs of governance trouble: investors backed the board, executive pay and auditor, which helps reinforce stability and continuity at the company. Arista Networks Shareholders Back Board, Pay and Auditor
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage around Arista’s presentation at the William Blair Growth Stock Conference keeps attention on its AI networking growth story and helps support bullish sentiment. Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET) Presents at 46th Annual William Blair Growth Stock Conference Transcript
• Positive Sentiment: Articles highlighting Arista as a beneficiary of continued AI infrastructure spending suggest investors still see upside in demand for high-speed networking gear. Is the Arista Networks Post-Earnings Dip a Good Buying Opportunity?
• Positive Sentiment: Broader strength in networking stocks, including Cisco’s move to record highs on AI and cybersecurity demand, is spilling over into Arista and supporting the group’s valuation. Cisco Advances 5% to Record Highs on AI Cybersecurity Push, Arista Climbs as Networking Trade Extends
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary comparing ANET with the Nasdaq and other peers mainly reflects ongoing valuation discussion rather than a clear new catalyst. Is Arista Networks stock outperforming the Nasdaq?
• Neutral Sentiment: Some analysts and strategists are cautioning that Arista’s strong run may already reflect a lot of future growth, which could limit upside if AI spending slows. How To Earn 12% While Waiting For Arista Stock To Fall

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ANET opened at $175.43 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $220.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.08, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.61. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $85.58 and a 1 year high of $179.80. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $148.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $137.86.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The technology company reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.62 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.32% and a return on equity of 30.10%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 35.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. Arista Networks has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.880 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Chantelle Yvette Breithaupt sold 2,448 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.00, for a total transaction of $384,336.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 64,408 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,112,056. The trade was a 3.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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, Director Yvonne Wassenaar sold 971 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.93, for a total transaction of $136,843.03. Following the sale, the director directly owned 9,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,378,859.12. This represents a 9.03% 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. Insiders have sold 1,935,142 shares of company stock valued at $313,589,223 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on ANET shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $185.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Arista Networks from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $195.00 price target (up from $184.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $187.00 price target (up from $177.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $185.72.

Arista Networks Company 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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