Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. Takes Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,180 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $513,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sandy Spring Bank increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 33.6% in the 4th quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 155 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC increased its position in Arista Networks by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC now owns 2,255 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $531,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,839 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 1,376 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $324,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Purus Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Arista Networks by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Purus Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,619 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,030,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on ANET shares. Melius Research upgraded Arista Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, January 8th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “sell” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $275.59.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of ANET opened at $255.24 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $279.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $248.62. The firm has a market cap of $80.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.09. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.68 and a 52 week high of $307.74.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The technology company reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.44% and a net margin of 35.62%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.25 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Yvonne Wassenaar sold 224 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.29, for a total value of $57,184.96. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,827 shares in the company, valued at $721,704.83. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 87,418 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.81, for a total transaction of $24,373,012.58. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 17,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,929,639.61. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Yvonne Wassenaar sold 224 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.29, for a total value of $57,184.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $721,704.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 332,514 shares of company stock worth $95,369,397. Corporate insiders own 18.99% 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.