Marshall Wace LLP Boosts Stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 150.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 488,761 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 293,294 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP owned approximately 0.15% of Juniper Networks worth $18,304,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of JNPR. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth $262,618,000. FIL Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 12,752,814 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $477,593,000 after buying an additional 2,167,567 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in Juniper Networks by 60.1% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,157,158 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $159,510,000 after buying an additional 1,559,884 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,525,290 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $244,372,000 after buying an additional 987,431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in Juniper Networks by 69.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 1,710,771 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $64,068,000 after acquiring an additional 700,111 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 94,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JNPR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays upped their price target on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Argus lowered Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

NYSE:JNPR opened at $34.34 on Friday. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $33.42 and a 52-week high of $39.79. The business’s fifty day moving average is $35.64 and its 200 day moving average is $36.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.46. The firm has a market cap of $11.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.93, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.84.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 7.57%. Research analysts predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 102.33%.

About Juniper Networks

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.