PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Raises Stock Position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) by 326.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 264,176 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 202,185 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Arista Networks were worth $29,199,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Arista Networks by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,237,635 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,313,229,000 after acquiring an additional 411,109 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 293.2% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 6,750,793 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $746,165,000 after buying an additional 5,034,022 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 320.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,457,263 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $713,721,000 after buying an additional 4,919,882 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Arista Networks by 294.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,136,864 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $678,308,000 after purchasing an additional 4,579,622 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC raised its position in Arista Networks by 292.8% in the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 6,053,181 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $674,627,000 after purchasing an additional 4,512,166 shares during the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on ANET shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $112.00 to $115.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $108.00 price target (up previously from $106.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Marc Taxay sold 51,848 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total transaction of $4,593,214.32. The sale 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 stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.51, for a total transaction of $892,080.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 163,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,263,553.84. The trade was a 4.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 411,001 shares of company stock valued at $42,324,111 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.54% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Arista Networks stock opened at $83.31 on Monday. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $60.08 and a 12-month high of $133.57. The stock 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. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $108.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $102.18.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Arista Networks had a net margin of 40.72% and a return on equity of 29.91%. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

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.