Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $39.80.

JNPR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays increased their target price on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Argus downgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, November 1st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total value 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 $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in JNPR. Creative Planning grew its stake in Juniper Networks by 11.4% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 20,929 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $816,000 after purchasing an additional 2,140 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 162.2% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,111 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $150,000 after buying an additional 2,543 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $213,000. Axecap Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,996,000. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 82,559 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,218,000 after acquiring an additional 8,873 shares in the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.0 %

JNPR opened at $35.98 on Friday. Juniper Networks has a 12 month low of $33.72 and a 12 month high of $39.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $37.09 and a 200 day moving average of $37.82. The firm has a market cap of $11.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.45%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio 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.