Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) Shares Acquired by HM Payson & Co.

HM Payson & Co. grew its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 3,173.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,321 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,189 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $478,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $242,000. GHE LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 319.0% in the fourth quarter. GHE LLC now owns 28,368 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,136,000 after purchasing an additional 21,597 shares during the period. Colonial River Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 327.6% in the fourth quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC now owns 9,745 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,077,000 after purchasing an additional 7,466 shares during the period. Unified Investment Management acquired a new position in Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth $630,000. Finally, Silver Oak Securities Incorporated grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 395.8% during the fourth quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 18,593 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,072,000 after acquiring an additional 14,843 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays upped their price objective on Arista Networks from $125.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Arista Networks from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Arista Networks from $102.50 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Arista Networks from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.51, for a total value of $892,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 163,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,263,553.84. This represents a 4.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John F. Mccool sold 288 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.70, for a total value of $31,305.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 411,289 shares of company stock worth $42,355,417 over the last three months. 3.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Arista Networks Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:ANET opened at $83.31 on Friday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $60.08 and a 52-week high of $133.57. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $108.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $102.08. The company has a market capitalization of $105.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.08.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 29.91% and a net margin of 40.72%. The business had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks 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.