Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Invests $802,000 in Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 6,120 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 18,509 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,697,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 16,085 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,133,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. United Asset Strategies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 6,311 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $827,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 0.9% in the third quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 8,364 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,219,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 2,429 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $318,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Yvonne Wassenaar sold 1,395 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.07, for a total value of $213,532.65. Following the sale, the director directly owned 9,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,497,636.88. This represents a 12.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.40, for a total value of $1,403,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 208,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,541,608.20. The trade was a 3.70% 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 three months, insiders sold 1,502,729 shares of company stock worth $246,707,719. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Arista Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reuters-based 13-F filings show institutional investors added to or started positions in major AI infrastructure names, including Arista Networks, signaling continued professional buying interest in the company’s long-term AI networking story. Institutional investors boosted holdings of AI infrastructure plays during first quarter
• Positive Sentiment: Raymond James upgraded Arista to Outperform, citing share gains in AI-backend and campus networking, plus demand from major customers such as Meta Platforms and Microsoft. Arista upgraded to outperform as it gains share in AI-backend and campus: Raymond James
• Positive Sentiment: Truist said Arista’s post-earnings pullback may be an attractive buying opportunity, keeping the name on bullish watch lists as investors weigh strong underlying demand against near-term volatility. Truist Views Arista Networks (ANET)’s Post-Q1 Sell-Off As An Attractive Buying Opportunity
• Neutral Sentiment: Several recent articles compare Arista with other AI-related stocks and question whether the rally has already priced in much of the upside, which may be adding to investor caution after a strong multi-year run. Is It Too Late To Consider Arista Networks (ANET) After Strong Multi Year Share Gains?
• Neutral Sentiment: Other coverage notes Arista’s AI demand remains strong, but supply-chain constraints and margin pressure could limit near-term upside even as revenue guidance stays solid. AI-Fueled Demand Amid Supply Strains Might Change The Case For Investing In Arista Networks (ANET)
• Negative Sentiment: One analyst-style comparison argued Jabil looks stronger than Arista on valuation and AI data-center exposure, reflecting some relative-value skepticism toward ANET. Arista vs. Jabil: Which AI-Driven Tech Stock Looks Stronger Now?

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ANET has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $181.00 price target (up from $175.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings lowered Arista Networks from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $178.00 target price (up from $170.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Arista Networks from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $181.84.

Arista Networks Trading Down 3.9%

Shares of Arista Networks stock opened at $141.98 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $144.57 and a 200 day moving average of $137.64. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $83.86 and a 12 month high of $179.80. The firm has a market cap of $178.78 billion, a PE ratio of 48.62, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.67.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The technology company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 30.10% and a net margin of 38.32%.The firm’s revenue was up 35.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share. Arista Networks has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.880 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.