Madison Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET – Free Report) by 73.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 178,606 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 505,710 shares during the quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $30,342,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ANET. Kelleher Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Sankala Group LLC bought a new position in Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Prosperity Bancshares Inc bought a new position in Arista Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Main Street Group LTD acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
ANET has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $259.00 price objective (up from $187.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Arista Networks from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Arista Networks from $210.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $240.00 price target (up from $181.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.05.
Key Arista Networks News
Here are the key news stories impacting Arista Networks this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Arista is benefiting from accelerating AI infrastructure spending. Its Etherlink customer base has surpassed 100, while demand from customers using different AI architectures could broaden the company’s addressable market and support continued growth. Arista Benefits From AI Networking Surge: Will Momentum Persist?
- Positive Sentiment: One comparison of Arista with Palantir portrays ANET as the more attractively valued growth company, citing roughly 51 times forward earnings, no debt and net margins near 39%. That framing may support investor interest in Arista relative to other expensive AI-related stocks. Arista Networks vs. Palantir Technologies: Which Technology Stock Is a Better Buy in 2026?
- Positive Sentiment: Additional analysis points to sustained revenue growth, reinforcing the bullish case that cloud, data-center and AI networking demand can continue driving Arista’s results. What’s Fueling Arista Networks Revenue Growth?
- Neutral Sentiment: Arista’s Rosenblatt Technology Summit presentation focused on the company’s role in the AI networking buildout. The transcript may provide further detail on strategy and demand, but it did not introduce a clearly new financial catalyst. Rosenblatt Technology Summit Transcript
- Neutral Sentiment: A roundup of institutional-investor positioning reflects greater selectivity toward AI and technology stocks, but does not report a specific change in Arista’s fundamentals or analyst outlook. Bet on Smart Money With These Stocks and ETFs
- Negative Sentiment: Valuation remains a key risk. Arista’s superior operating performance is reflected in its premium multiple, while future profitability depends on which customers generate the volume being secured; a less favorable customer mix could pressure margins. What You Are Really Paying For In Arista Networks Stock
Arista Networks Stock Down 3.5%
ANET stock opened at $186.34 on Thursday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.52 and a 12-month high of $214.89. The company has a market cap of $235.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.78, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a 50 day moving average of $176.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $155.75.
Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.13. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.37% and a return on equity of 30.65%. The company had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.73 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 37.7% on a year-over-year basis. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.060-1.080 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.
Insider Transactions at Arista Networks
In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 573,509 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.13, for a total value of $119,364,428.17. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,203,250. The trade was a 95.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 111,848 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.75, for a total value of $21,558,702.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 109,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,170,310.75. The trade was a 50.45% 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. Insiders sold a total of 4,333,775 shares of company stock worth $798,438,989 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.
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.
Featured Articles
- Five stocks we like better than Arista Networks
- Bloom Energy’s AI Surge Meets a Valuation Reality Check
- Target Is Winning Shoppers Back—Can the Rally Reach $180?
- IonQ’s Space Contract Points to a New Frontier for Quantum Investors
- Is Apple’s AI Strategy Smarter Than Skeptics Think?
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ANET? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET – Free Report).
Receive News & Ratings for Arista Networks Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Arista Networks and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
