Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Short Interest Down 29.5% in February

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 8,590,000 shares, a drop of 29.5% from the February 13th total of 12,180,000 shares. Approximately 2.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 3,690,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 47.8% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 60.3% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,188 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 91.9% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,263 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 139.5% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 1,045 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.3 %

JNPR stock traded down $0.10 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $36.01. The company had a trading volume of 628,862 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,113,058. Juniper Networks has a 52 week low of $33.72 and a 52 week high of $39.79. The company has a market cap of $12.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.87, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a 50 day moving average of $36.69 and a 200 day moving average of $37.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Juniper Networks will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date is 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.