Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. $ANET

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 224,608 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 9,056 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $29,430,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ANET. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 2,829.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,721,156 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $833,630,000 after purchasing an additional 5,525,828 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 82.5% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 9,587,115 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,396,939,000 after buying an additional 4,332,659 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $247,451,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 13.2% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,742,112 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $892,919,000 after buying an additional 1,022,303 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Arista Networks by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 100,000,830 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $14,571,121,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007,730 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arista Networks Price Performance

NYSE ANET opened at $122.85 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $154.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.46. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $59.43 and a 12 month high of $164.94. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $135.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $136.39.

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

Key Headlines Impacting Arista Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Truist initiated coverage with a Buy and set a $161 price target (roughly +31% from recent levels), calling out AI networking demand after the recent pullback — a clear analyst catalyst that can spur buying and revisions. Truist Initiates Arista Networks With 35% Upside
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised Arista’s 2026 revenue outlook, saying AI-related sales — especially from its AI Center business — will drive most incremental revenue; that guidance upgrade underpins expectations for continued top-line strength. Arista Networks AI Outlook Lifts 2026 Goals But Concentration Risks Grow
• Positive Sentiment: Broader AI-infrastructure ecosystem moves (NVIDIA’s NVLink Fusion expansion and ecosystem investments) increase demand for high-performance data-center networking where Arista competes, creating a second-order tailwind for ANET. 5 Stocks That Win Big From NVIDIA’s NVLink Fusion AI Ecosystem Expansion
• Neutral Sentiment: Arista’s operating margin has expanded (reported ~48.2%), driven by AI demand and scale — this supports higher profitability but raises the bar for sustaining those margins as volumes and product mix evolve. ANET’s Margin Expansion Moderates: Can Growth Be Sustained?
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary and comparisons (e.g., Ciena vs. Arista) highlight that Arista benefits from AI-driven networking but operates in a different segment than optical/WAN players — useful for portfolio positioning but not an immediate price driver. Ciena vs. Arista: Which Networking Stock Is the Better Buy?
• Negative Sentiment: Key risks: management flagged customer concentration and deferred hardware revenue recognition as items that can make results lumpy; hyperscaler spending shifts or contract timing could reverse momentum and increase volatility. Arista Networks AI Outlook Lifts 2026 Goals But Concentration Risks Grow
• Negative Sentiment: Stock recently pulled back (several recent sessions showed declines), reflecting short-term profit-taking and sensitivity to macro/AI cycle news; that volatility can amplify both upside and downside in the near term. Arista Networks (ANET) Sees a More Significant Dip Than Broader Market: Some Facts to Know

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, Director Yvonne Wassenaar sold 1,395 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.34, for a total transaction of $187,404.30. Following the sale, the director owned 11,179 shares in the company, valued at $1,501,786.86. This represents a 11.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total value of $4,292,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,740,600.64. The trade was a 71.15% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 199,632 shares of company stock valued at $26,936,324 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ANET shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $175.00 target price (up from $159.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $161.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $175.61.

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.