Insider Selling: Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Major Shareholder Sells 220,000 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 220,000 Arista Networks shares on June 5 at an average price of $157.93, totaling about $34.7 million. The sale reduced his direct ownership by 66.3% and was made under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 trading plan.
• Bechtolsheim has also made several other recent sales, including 240,000 shares on June 4 and additional sales in late May, signaling a notable pattern of insider selling. The company says large shareholders must disclose such trades to the SEC.
• Despite the insider selling, Arista Networks recently reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $0.87 and revenue of $2.71 billion, both above analyst estimates. Analysts remain broadly positive, with a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $186.47.

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 220,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.93, for a total transaction of $34,744,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 111,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,664,154.64. This represents a 66.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a company's shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Andreas Bechtolsheim also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, June 4th, Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 240,000 shares of Arista Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.06, for a total transaction of $39,134,400.00.
• On Tuesday, May 26th, Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 220,000 shares of Arista Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.86, for a total transaction of $34,509,200.00.
• On Friday, May 22nd, Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 205,000 shares of Arista Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.74, for a total value of $31,106,700.00.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of Arista Networks stock traded down $4.34 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $152.06. The company had a trading volume of 7,328,415 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,836,428. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $152.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.33. Arista Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $85.58 and a fifty-two week high of $179.80. The firm has a market cap of $191.47 billion, a PE ratio of 52.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.61.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ANET. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,558,563,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 82.5% during the third 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 period. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $525,741,000 after purchasing an additional 3,890,146 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 59.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,878,360 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,032,302,000 after purchasing an additional 2,934,098 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 86.0% during the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,240,951 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $520,168,000 after purchasing an additional 1,960,829 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ANET. 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 raised shares of Arista Networks from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Arista Networks from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $181.00 price target (up from $175.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $195.00 price objective (up from $184.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $186.47.

Trending Headlines about Arista Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Arista launched its new 7060XE7 Series 1.6T networking platforms, a next-generation portfolio designed for AI fabrics and rack-scale AI infrastructure. That supports the company’s growth narrative as demand rises for larger AI clusters. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analysts remain constructive after the company’s latest results, with price targets raised and buy ratings reiterated, reinforcing confidence in Arista’s earnings momentum and AI/networking demand. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage also highlighted Arista’s strong liquidity, including a debt-free balance sheet, rising cash reserves, and robust operating cash flow, which can support continued investment in growth initiatives. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles framed Arista as a leading AI networking and “AI arms race” beneficiary, which is supportive of the long-term bull case but does not appear to be a new fundamental catalyst by itself. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim disclosed another large share sale, adding to recent insider selling. While the trade was under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan, insider sales can still weigh on sentiment. Article Title

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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