Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET Shares Bought by First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. raised its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 1,401.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 38,532 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 35,966 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $7,845,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ABS Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Arista Networks during the second quarter valued at $29,000. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC grew its position in Arista Networks by 61.9% in the second quarter. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC now owns 183 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sankala Group LLC bought a new stake in Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 130,553 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.10, for a total value of $28,343,056.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 4,774,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,036,585,416.10. The trade was a 2.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.95, for a total transaction of $59,685,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 180,543,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,919,039,399.60. This trade represents a 0.17% 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 have sold a total of 3,627,449 shares of company stock worth $740,784,723 over the last ninety days. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Trending Headlines about Arista Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Arista introduced an open Ethernet rack-scale portfolio designed to connect accelerators across liquid-cooled racks for large-scale AI workloads. The launch reinforces the company’s position in high-density data-center networking and could expand its addressable market. Arista Networks Stock Dropped, What Is Behind the Fresh Attention?
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group Bank maintained a Buy rating and slightly raised its FY2026 EPS estimate to $3.79 and FY2027 estimate to $4.74. The modest increases support the view that earnings growth remains intact.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports indicate Arista raised its revenue outlook for the third time this year, while non-cancellable purchase commitments rose 2.7 times to $9.7 billion. That suggests strong demand and improved revenue visibility. Arista Networks Prospects and Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Arista’s latest quarterly results were strong, with revenue up 37.7% year over year to $3.04 billion and EPS of $1.02 versus the $0.89 consensus. However, the stock trades at an elevated valuation, with a P/E ratio above 64, leaving it sensitive to profit-taking and changes in growth expectations.
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 130,553 shares for approximately $28.3 million on October 9 and another 27,990 shares for about $6.1 million on October 8. Both transactions were conducted under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, and Ullal still owns roughly 4.8 million shares, but the repeated sales may weigh on sentiment after ANET approached its 52-week high. Arista Networks CEO Sells Shares
• Negative Sentiment: The shares recently declined more than 3% and underperformed the broader market, suggesting investors may be locking in gains following substantial year-to-date appreciation. The combination of high valuation and insider selling is likely contributing to the pressure.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ANET shares. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $240.00 price objective (up from $181.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $259.00 target price (up from $187.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 price target (up from $190.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $210.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.45.

Arista Networks Trading Down 3.1%

NYSE:ANET opened at $204.34 on Wednesday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.52 and a twelve month high of $217.41. The company has a market cap of $257.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.60. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $198.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $173.36.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.37% and a return on equity of 30.65%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 37.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.060-1.080 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks Profile

Arista Networks, Inc develops and sells cloud networking solutions for data centers, campus environments and high-performance computing applications. Its products include Ethernet switches, routers, wireless access points and related networking equipment designed to support cloud computing, artificial intelligence, enterprise and service-provider networks.

The company’s software portfolio includes Arista EOS, its network operating system, and CloudVision, a platform that helps customers manage, automate and monitor network infrastructure.