Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the six research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $39.80.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Argus cut shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Evercore ISI upgraded Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th.

Insider Activity

In other Juniper Networks news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total transaction of $1,115,827.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 23,672 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $887,000 after purchasing an additional 1,852 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 596,479 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $22,338,000 after purchasing an additional 81,075 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 26.7% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,130 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after buying an additional 2,134 shares during the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH acquired a new position in Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $602,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $9,019,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Stock Up 0.1 %

JNPR stock opened at $36.10 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The company has a 50-day moving average of $36.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. Juniper Networks has a 52-week low of $33.72 and a 52-week high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 7.57%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 102.33%.

Juniper Networks Company Profile

Juniper Networks, Inc designs, develops, and sells network products and services worldwide. The company offers routing products, such as ACX series universal access routers to deploy high-bandwidth services; MX series Ethernet routers that function as a universal edge platform; PTX series packet transport routers; wide-area network SDN controllers; and session smart routers.