Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Sells 337,462 Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC trimmed its position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 28.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 838,641 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 337,462 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Arista Networks worth $122,198,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 100,000,830 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $14,571,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007,730 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 1.0% in the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 26,374,373 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,698,362,000 after purchasing an additional 263,272 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 0.5% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,576,483 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,606,694,000 after buying an additional 128,977 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the second quarter worth $1,228,177,000. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its stake in Arista Networks by 14.8% during the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 10,494,124 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,073,654,000 after buying an additional 1,350,593 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ANET shares. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $177.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $188.00 price target (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, February 13th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $175.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.44, for a total value of $4,558,080.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,848,301.44. The trade was a 71.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.43, for a total value of $1,123,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 9,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,373,967.12. This trade represents a 44.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 218,042 shares of company stock worth $28,561,131 in the last 90 days. 3.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Arista Networks Price Performance

NYSE:ANET opened at $132.72 on Friday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $59.43 and a 1-year high of $164.94. The business has a 50 day moving average of $133.91 and a 200 day moving average of $137.64. The company has a market capitalization of $166.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.09, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.42.

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

Key Stories Impacting Arista Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst write-ups highlight Arista’s software-led differentiation — Zacks notes Arista’s EOS and CloudVision give it an “AI‑ready,” automated networking edge for enterprises and hyperscalers, supporting durable revenue and margin expansion. This underpins growth expectations and helps justify a premium multiple. Can Arista’s High-Performance Network Software Fuel Its Future Growth?
• Positive Sentiment: Recent fundamental results remain supportive: Arista’s Feb. 12 quarter beat on EPS and revenue with high margins and ~29% YoY revenue growth, which helps justify analyst upside and a high P/E relative to peers. (Background earnings release)
• Positive Sentiment: Sector-performance pieces show ANET has outperformed many computer & technology peers so far this year, reinforcing momentum and attracting momentum/sector rotation flows. Is Arista Networks (ANET) Stock Outpacing Its Computer and Technology Peers This Year?
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts’ views are mixed — The Globe and Mail roundup notes differing analyst opinions across Arista and other tech names, indicating no clear consensus on near-term upside vs. valuation risk. Mixed analyst commentary can increase intraday volatility but doesn’t decisively move fundamentals. Analysts’ Opinions Are Mixed on These Technology Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: Comparative pieces (e.g., sector/company comparisons) provide context but are unlikely to drive large moves unless they change earning forecasts or market share assumptions. Comparing Consensus Cloud Solutions & Arista Networks
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: SEC filings show Kenneth Duda disclosed sizable sales (reported on Feb. 17), totaling tens of thousands of shares at ~\$142 per share. Large insider disposals can spook investors and add downward pressure even when management says sales are for personal reasons. SEC Form 4 — Insider Sale

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.