Covington Investment Advisors Inc. Buys Shares of 139,699 Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Posted by George Bondi on Aug 26th, 2026

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET – Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 139,699 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,732,000. Arista Networks makes up about 3.0% of Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $322,000. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 101.4% during the second quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 2,304 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $391,000 after purchasing an additional 1,160 shares in the last quarter. Moore Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Arista Networks in the second quarter worth approximately $6,066,000. Sigma Planning Corp lifted its position in Arista Networks by 26.1% in the second quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 18,815 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,196,000 after purchasing an additional 3,898 shares during the period. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 45,991 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,812,000 after purchasing an additional 3,899 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 767,029 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.22, for a total transaction of $154,341,575.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 16,387,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,297,589,536.82. The trade was a 4.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 300,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.30, for a total transaction of $60,990,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 181,143,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,826,381,658.40. This represents a 0.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 3,936,273 shares of company stock worth $738,411,668 in the last three months. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Arista Networks Stock Up 1.4%

ANET opened at $190.75 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $240.58 billion, a PE ratio of 60.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $178.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $157.17. Arista Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.52 and a fifty-two week high of $214.89.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.13. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.65% and a net margin of 38.37%.The company had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.73 earnings per share. Arista Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 37.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.060-1.080 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ANET has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded Arista Networks from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $255.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Arista Networks from $175.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Two investment 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $226.05.

View Our Latest Analysis on ANET

Arista Networks News Summary

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

Positive Sentiment: Arista remains on investors’ radar because of its exposure to AI-related data-center spending and high-speed networking demand. The company’s recent earnings beat, 37.7% year-over-year revenue growth, and above-consensus outlook support the bullish case. Why Arista Networks Is Back on the Market Radar?
Neutral Sentiment: Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 422 shares for approximately $79,000 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The modest transaction reduced her holdings by about 4%, making it a limited signal of insider sentiment. SEC insider transaction filing
Neutral Sentiment: Insider Kenneth Duda sold a combined 43,333 shares valued at roughly $8.0 million. Both sales were conducted under a pre-arranged plan and were described as covering tax withholding tied to vested equity awards, reducing their negative significance. SEC insider transaction filing
Negative Sentiment: Arista’s multiyear purchase commitments have nearly tripled in a year, while management’s visibility into customer demand extends only about two quarters. That mismatch could increase inventory, capacity, and demand risk if AI infrastructure spending slows. Arista Networks Is Buying Further Ahead Than It Can See
Negative Sentiment: Despite Arista’s compelling AI growth story, investors are being urged to monitor customer concentration and the difficulty of sustaining rapid growth as comparisons become tougher. With ANET trading at an elevated earnings multiple, disappointing growth or weaker customer demand could pressure the stock. Arista Networks Stock Looks Strong. One Number Says Be Careful.
Negative Sentiment: Cisco’s strong results followed by a sharp share-price decline highlights how high expectations can weigh on networking stocks, even after earnings beats. The episode may temper enthusiasm across the sector, including Arista. Cisco and Arista networking-stock analysis

Arista Networks Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.