Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Increases Stake in Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 13.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 436,959 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 51,320 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Arista Networks were worth $57,353,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ANET. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Arista Networks by 2,829.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,721,156 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $833,630,000 after buying an additional 5,525,828 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Arista Networks by 82.5% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 9,587,115 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,396,939,000 after buying an additional 4,332,659 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in Arista Networks by 3,182.7% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 4,012,373 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $525,741,000 after buying an additional 3,890,146 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in Arista Networks by 310.6% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 2,280,122 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $298,868,000 after buying an additional 1,724,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Arista Networks by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 101,189,629 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $13,258,877,000 after buying an additional 1,188,799 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $195.00 price objective (up from $184.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Truist Financial set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $176.00 to $173.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $187.00 price target (up from $177.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $181.00 price target (up from $175.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two equities research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.84.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In related news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.40, for a total value of $1,403,200.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 208,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,541,608.20. This represents a 3.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal 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, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.31, for a total transaction of $5,225,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,119,110.56. The trade was a 71.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 1,502,729 shares of company stock worth $246,707,719 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks News Roundup

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?

Arista Networks Stock Down 3.9%

Shares of ANET opened at $141.98 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $144.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $137.64. The company has a market capitalization of $178.78 billion, a PE ratio of 48.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.67. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $83.86 and a 52-week high of $179.80.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The technology company reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.62 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.32% and a return on equity of 30.10%. The business’s revenue was up 35.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. Arista Networks has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.880 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.28 EPS for the current 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.