Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Acquires 5,895 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in Arista Networks by 11.8% in Q1, owning 55,839 shares valued at $4.33 million.
• Goldman Sachs raised Arista's price target from $115 to $155, reflecting strong buy ratings from several analysts and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• CEO Jayshree Ullal sold over 1.78 million shares at an average price of $136.22, resulting in a significant decrease in her ownership stake in the company.

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 11.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 55,839 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 5,895 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $4,326,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,535,505 shares of the technology company's stock worth $196,451,000 after purchasing an additional 28,937 shares during the period. Deepwater Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Deepwater Asset Management LLC now owns 153,013 shares of the technology company's stock worth $11,855,000 after purchasing an additional 11,083 shares during the period. Element Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Arista Networks in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,587,000. Aberdeen Group plc boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 129.3% in the 1st quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 946,775 shares of the technology company's stock worth $72,551,000 after purchasing an additional 533,927 shares during the period. Finally, Liontrust Investment Partners LLP boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 39.1% in the 1st quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP now owns 228,262 shares of the technology company's stock worth $17,686,000 after purchasing an additional 64,142 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ANET shares. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Arista Networks from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. KGI Securities lowered shares of Arista Networks to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered shares of Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $138.07.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 1,785,165 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.22, for a total value of $243,175,176.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 5,698,074 shares of the company's stock, valued at $776,191,640.28. The trade was a 23.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,823,574 shares of company stock worth $721,676,802. Insiders own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ANET traded up $0.4540 on Thursday, hitting $131.9240. 5,872,054 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,009,626. The company's 50 day moving average price is $113.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $96.79. Arista Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $59.43 and a one year high of $141.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $165.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.89, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.37.

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

Arista Networks announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Arista Networks Profile

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.