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

Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. boosted its holdings in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 1.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,258 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the period. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $2,809,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Weaver Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 21,449 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,662,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. First American Bank lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. First American Bank now owns 14,478 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,122,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 43.8% during the 1st quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 575 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 30,642 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,374,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc now owns 4,645 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.23, for a total value of $2,766,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares in the company, valued at $1,196,776.48. This trade represents a 69.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.18, for a total value of $705,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 123,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,915,273.12. The trade was a 6.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 161,690 shares of company stock worth $14,525,085 in the last quarter. 3.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of ANET stock opened at $96.29 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $120.93 billion, a PE ratio of 40.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.37. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $59.43 and a 1-year high of $133.58. The business has a 50-day moving average of $88.81 and a 200 day moving average of $95.73.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 40.72%. The company had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. Arista Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Arista Networks declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 6th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ANET shares. Needham & Company LLC started coverage on Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane lowered Arista Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $106.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Arista Networks from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Arista Networks from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, BNP Paribas cut Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.87.

About Arista Networks

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.