Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Reduces Holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership decreased its stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 89.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 131,755 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,158,197 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $19,198,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its position in Arista Networks by 56.7% during the 3rd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 199 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 141.3% in the 3rd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 222 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Bare Financial Services Inc boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 2,118.2% during the second quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 244 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its stake in Arista Networks by 979.2% in the third quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 259 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the period. Finally, Guerra Advisors Inc bought a new position in Arista Networks in the third quarter worth $41,000. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ANET. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, February 13th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $178.00 price objective (up from $170.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, February 13th. UBS Group set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $175.00 target price (up from $159.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Arista Networks from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $176.88.

Trending Headlines about Arista Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street remains broadly bullish as Arista has meaningfully outperformed the S&P 500 over the past year, supporting buy-side conviction in its multi‑year growth runway. Is Arista Networks’ Stock Outperforming the S&P 500?
• Positive Sentiment: One analyst sees >50% upside as accelerating AI data‑center demand and Arista’s execution (switching, Ethernet for AI fabrics) could drive another leg of growth. This bullish note can attract momentum buyers. Why 1 Analyst Thinks Arista Networks Stock Can Still Gain Over 50% This Year
• Positive Sentiment: Arista 2.0 strategy (AI focus, SaaS offers and a 150M port deployment milestone) is gaining traction — supports upside potential from higher‑margin software and recurring‑revenue mix improvements. Arista 2.0 Strategy Picks Up Steam: Can ANET Ride This Wave?
• Positive Sentiment: Recent quarterly results beat expectations and management raised AI revenue guidance for FY‑2026, reinforcing Arista’s role in next‑gen cloud and AI infrastructure — a core fundamental support for the rally. Arista Networks (ANET) Is Down 5.1% After Raising 2026 AI Revenue Outlook And Beating Q4 Estimates – Has The Bull Case Changed?
• Neutral Sentiment: Company presentation at Bernstein Insights provides incremental color on strategy and roadmap (helpful for investors, but not an immediate catalyst). Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET) Presents at Bernstein Insights
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the beat and guidance lift, the stock previously pulled back (~5%) as some investors rotated out on valuation concerns and to lock gains — this dynamic can cause volatility even with positive fundamentals. Arista Networks (ANET) Is Down 5.1% After Raising 2026 AI Revenue Outlook And Beating Q4 Estimates – Has The Bull Case Changed?
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: a director sold 422 shares (~$54k) last week — a small position change but sometimes cited by traders as a near‑term weak signal. Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Director Kelly Bodnar Battles Sells 422 Shares

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other news, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.44, for a total transaction of $4,558,080.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,848,301.44. This represents a 71.15% 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. Also, Director Yvonne Wassenaar sold 1,815 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.44, for a total value of $240,378.60. Following the sale, the director directly owned 12,574 shares in the company, valued at $1,665,300.56. This trade represents a 12.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 196,237 shares of company stock worth $25,861,120 over the last quarter. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Arista Networks stock opened at $133.32 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $134.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $137.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $167.52 billion, a PE ratio of 48.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.42. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $59.43 and a 52-week high of $164.94.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The technology company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.38 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.99% and a return on equity of 30.37%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 28.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal 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.