Westpac Banking Corp Sells 10,343 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Key Points

• Westpac Banking Corp cut its Arista Networks stake by 12.2% in the first quarter, selling 10,343 shares and leaving it with 74,135 shares valued at about $9.1 million.
• Arista continues to draw strong institutional and analyst support, with 82.47% of shares held by institutions and Wall Street maintaining a consensus Buy rating and average price target of $188.95.
• The company posted beat-and-raise-style results last quarter, topping earnings and revenue estimates with 35.1% year-over-year revenue growth, while new AI-related product launches and upbeat earnings previews suggest continued momentum.

Westpac Banking Corp trimmed its holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Free Report) by 12.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 74,135 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 10,343 shares during the period. Arista Networks accounts for about 0.6% of Westpac Banking Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Westpac Banking Corp's holdings in Arista Networks were worth $9,102,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Main Street Group LTD acquired a new stake in Arista Networks during the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Sankala Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Prosperity Bancshares Inc acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 184.9% in the first quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC now owns 245 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Arista Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Arista launched AI-driven Edge Threat Management for VeloCloud SD-WAN, expanding beyond data center networking into branch-office security and potentially opening a new growth avenue. Arista Networks (ANET) Launches AI Driven Zero Trust Security For Branch Offices
• Positive Sentiment: Arista is being highlighted as a stock that could beat Q2 earnings estimates again, supported by strong AI and cloud demand trends. Will Arista Networks (ANET) Beat Estimates Again in Its Next Earnings Report?
• Positive Sentiment: Another earnings-preview piece also names Arista among software and tech names that may beat estimates this season, reinforcing upbeat sentiment ahead of results. 4 Software Stocks Likely to Beat Estimates This Earnings Season
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent articles noting Arista as a trending stock and comparing its performance to peers suggest heightened investor interest, but do not add a new fundamental catalyst. Here is What to Know Beyond Why Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET) is a Trending Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: A Trefis article argues Arista is making a big growth bet by building inventory and cutting buybacks, which could support future demand but also raises execution risk. How Much Upside Can ANET Stock's Growth Deliver?

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ANET has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $187.00 price target (up from $177.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Arista Networks to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Arista Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $188.95.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

ANET stock opened at $174.37 on Wednesday. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $163.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $147.91. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $106.99 and a 52 week high of $189.82. The company has a market capitalization of $219.57 billion, a PE ratio of 59.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.60.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The technology company reported $0.87 earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations of $2.62 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.32% and a return on equity of 30.10%. The business's revenue was up 35.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.65 EPS. Arista Networks has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.880 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other news, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 260,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.57, for a total transaction of $43,048,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 182,543,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,223,652,457.36. This trade represents a 0.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.08, for a total transaction of $4,482,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,817,678.08. The trade was a 71.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days, insiders have sold 2,264,983 shares of company stock valued at $376,175,065. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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