Merit Financial Group LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Merit Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 4.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 53,894 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,265 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $5,514,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ANET. HighMark Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Arista Networks by 179.7% in the 1st quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 358 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Cloud Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the first quarter worth about $33,000. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 45.8% during the 1st quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 455 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC lifted its stake in Arista Networks by 51.3% in the 1st quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 454 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Stock Up 2.8%

NYSE ANET opened at $149.61 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $138.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $107.14. The firm has a market cap of $188.04 billion, a PE ratio of 58.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.47. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $59.43 and a 52 week high of $156.32.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.08. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.90% and a return on equity of 31.05%. The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. Arista Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Research analysts expect that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Arista Networks from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Wolfe Research increased their price objective on Arista Networks from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $151.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $89.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $162.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.49, for a total value of $1,179,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 41,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,162,722.16. This represents a 16.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 1,247,688 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.53, for a total value of $185,319,098.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,383,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $799,567,735.71. This trade represents a 18.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 6,678,904 shares of company stock valued at $894,021,161 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Company Profile

Arista Networks, Inc engages in the development, marketing, and sale of data-driven, client to cloud networking solutions for data center, campus, and routing environments in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. Its cloud networking solutions consist of Extensible Operating System (EOS), a publish-subscribe state-sharing networking operating system offered in combination with a set of network applications.