First Trust Advisors LP Buys 526,373 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 13.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,328,274 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 526,373 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.34% of Arista Networks worth $531,425,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ANET. Sankala Group LLC acquired a new position in Arista Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Prosperity Bancshares Inc acquired a new stake in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Main Street Group LTD acquired a new stake in Arista Networks in the first quarter worth $26,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the third quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arista Networks news, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 260,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.57, for a total transaction of $43,048,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 182,543,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,223,652,457.36. This represents a 0.14% decrease in their position. 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, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 242,422 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.17, for a total value of $45,616,547.74. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,171,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $973,044,946.15. This trade represents a 4.48% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,264,983 shares of company stock worth $376,175,065. 2.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Arista Networks News Roundup

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?

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on ANET. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective (up from $180.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, June 12th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price (up from $178.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Arista Networks to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $188.95.

Arista Networks Trading Up 3.0%

Shares of NYSE ANET opened at $174.37 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $219.57 billion, a PE ratio of 59.72, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.60. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $106.99 and a 1-year high of $189.82. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $163.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $147.91.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The technology company reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.62 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.10% and a net margin of 38.32%.The company’s revenue was up 35.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.65 EPS. Arista Networks has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.880 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

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.