Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Sells 11,260 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• Royal London Asset Management trimmed its Arista Networks position by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 11,260 shares but still holding 590,889 shares valued at about $77.4 million.
• Arista continues to see strong institutional and analyst support: institutional ownership stands at 82.47%, and analysts have a consensus Buy rating with an average price target of $186.47.
• The company reported strong quarterly results, including EPS of $0.87 versus $0.81 expected and revenue of $2.71 billion, while also rolling out new Ethernet platforms aimed at meeting growing AI infrastructure demand.

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. decreased its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 590,889 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 11,260 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.'s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $77,424,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter worth $1,558,563,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 82.5% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 9,587,115 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,396,939,000 after purchasing an additional 4,332,659 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in Arista Networks by 3,182.7% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 4,012,373 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $525,741,000 after buying an additional 3,890,146 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Arista Networks by 59.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,878,360 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,032,302,000 after buying an additional 2,934,098 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its stake in Arista Networks by 310.6% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 2,280,122 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $298,868,000 after buying an additional 1,724,758 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ANET has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Arista Networks from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $190.00 price target (up from $180.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Arista Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $185.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. 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 note on Wednesday, May 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Arista Networks presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $186.47.

Arista Networks News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: An analyst raised Arista Networks’ price target, helping fuel the stock’s recent climb and reinforcing optimism around the company’s outlook. Why Arista Networks Stock Flew More Than 4% Higher on Friday
• Positive Sentiment: Arista rolled out its 7060XE7 Series Ethernet platforms, with faster speeds and up to 100 Tbps switching capacity, which could support rising AI infrastructure spending and strengthen future demand. Can Arista's Advanced Networking Platform Meet the Growing AI Demand?
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group Bank boosted its FY2027 EPS estimate for Arista to $4.00 from $3.95, signaling improved long-term earnings expectations. MarketBeat Arista Networks article
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader market volatility tied to AI spending concerns, interest rates, and economic growth may be influencing trading across tech stocks, including Arista. The Stock Market Is Getting Volatile—Finally. What to Put on Your Buy List.
• Neutral Sentiment: A report noted that Arista co-founder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 220,000 shares, which can draw attention but does not by itself confirm a change in the business outlook. Andreas Bechtolsheim Sells 220,000 Shares of Arista Networks NYSE: ANET Stock

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 428,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.44, for a total value of $75,944,320.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 5,209,207 shares in the company, valued at $924,321,690.08. This trade represents a 7.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total value of $4,292,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,740,600.64. This trade represents a 71.15% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 2,403,142 shares of company stock worth $388,820,943 over the last quarter. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Arista Networks Trading Up 4.5%

Shares of ANET opened at $163.38 on Friday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $85.58 and a 12 month high of $179.80. The stock's 50 day moving average is $154.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $139.99. The firm has a market cap of $205.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.95, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.61.

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

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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