Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) in a report published on Monday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also commented on JNPR. Barclays cut their price objective on Juniper Networks from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. Argus raised Juniper Networks from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a hold rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, July 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $36.25.

Juniper Networks Stock Down 0.1 %

JNPR stock opened at $38.96 on Monday. Juniper Networks has a 1-year low of $24.87 and a 1-year high of $39.13. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $38.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.69 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.46, a P/E/G ratio of 11.18 and a beta of 0.93.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 8.02% and a net margin of 4.58%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Juniper Networks will post 0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 2nd will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 127.54%.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In related news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.50, for a total value of $1,460,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 124,776 shares in the company, valued at $4,554,324. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 108,669 shares of company stock valued at $3,947,279 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in Juniper Networks by 2,069.4% during the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 781 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 745 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.